College Football HQ

Deion Sanders sounds open to playing Syracuse in a spring football game

After saying he wanted Colorado to play another team in its spring football exhibition, Deion Sanders seemed to get an offer from Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. But will the NCAA prevent it from happening?

James Parks

Syracuse sounds open to playing Colorado in a spring football game, and Colorado appears ready to accept.
Syracuse sounds open to playing Colorado in a spring football game, and Colorado appears ready to accept. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
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It didn’t take long for Deion Sanders to get an offer after he said he wanted to see Colorado play another team in the annual spring football game.

Syracuse’s Fran Brown seemed to accept the offer of a joint practice and preseason scrimmage in a now-viral X post, saying he would bring his team to Boulder for three days.

And now it sounds like Coach Prime is up for it, praising Brown’s work with the Syracuse program and saying the two should join up for spring football, and a lot more.

“Let me give much love and much respect to my dear friend and my brother Fran Brown,” Sanders said on the NFL Network. 

“I’m praying that he’s the guy that’s going to make that jump. His university. We’ve already communicated. Fran, I love you. I appreciate you. I’m praying that it happens.”

“It’s not going to just be about football. It’s going to be about financial literacy. It’s going to be about everything,” he added. 

“It’s going to be about academics, as well. We’re going to do a joint thing, with both teams, if we can make this happen.”

While some high-profile college football programs seem to be backing away from the traditional spring games, Sanders says he wants to keep the practice going.

Not only that, but add another dimension to it, where schools host each other for NFL-style joint practices before meeting in a preseason exhibition matchup.

Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry also suggested that he would be open to the idea in principle, if such a possibility ever became a reality.

The problem is, it’s not a possibility right now. That’s because an NCAA bylaw currently prohibits college football programs from playing other schools during the spring practice window.

That hasn’t stopped Coach Prime from keeping the idea out there.

“To have a competitive [game] against your own guys kind of gets monotonous,” he said.

“You can’t really tell the level of your guys because, you know, it’s the same old, same way. Everybody kind of knows each other. I would like to style it like the pros.

“I would like to practice against someone for a few days, then you have the spring game, and I think the public will be satisfied with that tremendously. It’s a tremendous idea.”

It may be, but until the NCAA changes its rules, it will likely just remain an idea.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.

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