UCLA Football: How Deion Sanders Managed Relationship With Chip Kelly On The Field Last Year
During a new episode of Bleav's Zero 2 Sixty Podcast with longtime NFL guard Matt McChesney, Hall of Fame defensive back/wide receiver-turned-Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders explained how he's learned to temper his personal friendship with rival coaches pregame.
"...I don't want to be offensive to the opposing team, but I'm ready to get down," Sanders indicated, before elaborating. "I'm not ready to shake your hand, hold you, a lot of you, and tell you how good your program is and kiss the baby. I'm not about that at that time. I'm ready to get down. I'm not like a lot of these other coaches."
Former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly (now the offensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes) and Sanders may be chummy off the field, but ahead of their game against each other last season, Sanders made a point to explain he was all business.
"We're getting ready to play UCLA, and [then-head coach Chip] Kelly came over... I said, 'Coach, I'm sorry, I'm locked in, man.' ...And he hugged me and said, 'You know you're my guy!' I said, 'After the game we can go and we can talk about anything you want to talk about, but until then, I'm like, 'Coach you just know now, I'm locked in right now.' And he's my guy. So I'm not I'm not that type of guy. And some of these guys take it the wrong way. But when I'm on that grass, man, it's time."
During their meeting on October 28th, Kelly's Bruins got the better of Sanders' Buffaloes, 28-16.
