Atlanta Falcons & Dallas Cowboys Icon Deion Sanders: 'Coach Prime' Colorado Critics 'Exposing Themselves'

“They can’t help but expose themselves ... The more coaches talk about me, the more that kid is thinking, ‘Let me go find out what’s over there,’” says Falcons and Cowboys legend Deion Sanders of his Colorado critics.

Former Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys legend and now-Colorado head coach Deion Sanders keeps bringing up the critics of his work with the Buffaloes - even as it seems he's pushed so many of the right buttons in his turnaround of a poor program into a compelling 3-1 club - and it makes us wonder if it's all an "us against the world" campaign by "Coach Prime."

Really, since he took over as head coach, hasn't he largely shut up the critics? But just in case, he has a message for those who are supposedly suggesting he didn't deserve the job in the first place because he hasn't "paid his dues."

Deion Sanders

Appearing on "Undisputed," Sanders fielded a question from former Cowboys teammate and close friend Michael Irvin that "The Playmaker" phrased exactly that way ... almost as if Michael was teeing it up so Deion could hit it out of the ballpark. ... Which the cleverly eloquent Sanders certainly did.

“They can’t help but expose themselves ... The more coaches talk about me, the more that kid is thinking, ‘Let me go find out what’s over there,’” Sanders said.

.@DeionSanders responds to critics claiming he didn’t pay his dues to coach Colorado:

“They can’t help but expose themselves. The more coaches talk about me, the more that kid is thinking: ‘let me go find out what’s over there.’” pic.twitter.com/exYtDsYQ2C

— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) September 29, 2023

In other words, Deion is saying that even the attempts at being negative about CU by opposing coaches (and there has been some of that) will end up backfiring.

"Coach Prime" obviously believes that any time any coach or high-profile media talks about Colorado in a negative light, it draws prospects to want to check out the controversy ... and then check out the school in Boulder.

Of course, beyond Deion's cult of personality, a winning program that gets a different sort of "exposure" is a great recruiting toll. For now? Colorado couldn't handle Oregon last week and on Saturday the Buffs are underdogs against QB Caleb Williams and USC.

Want Deion to go about "paying his dues"? We could argue that he's done that with many exploits in sports and beyond ... but there is no doubt that opposing the Trojans will be part of the "paying."