Deion Sanders recaps Georgia Tech loss, previews Delaware matchup in Week 2 presser

Colorado Buffaloes‘ head coach Deion Sanders addressed the media in his weekly press conference on Tuesday and addressed questions about their loss to Georgia Tech and their upcoming Week 2 matchup against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.

The Buffs dropped their season opener to the Yellow Jackets after leaving two timeouts on their final drive with a minute remaining and allowing more than 300 yards on the ground. However, Colorado’s offense did show flashes, but missed key opportunities to put the game away.

Advertisement

Colorado now looks to Delaware, which recently made the jump from the FCS to the FBS. Delaware took care of their week one opponent on Saturday, defeating the Delaware State Hornets.

Here’s what “Coach Prime” had to say in his Week 2 presser on Tuesday.

On improving the offense

“It’s funny that you start out with coach Shurmur and we gave up over 300 yards darn near 400 yards rushing,” Sanders said. “That’s ironic to me. It seems like you guys just pick and choose who you want to target. That’s cool. We didn’t lose the game because of coach Shurmur, coach [Robert] Livingston, or one specific thing. I got to do a better job preparing my team; challenging my coaches to go to the next level. That’s on me.”

Advertisement

On message to the linebacker room

“You got to do better,” Sanders said. “That was not acceptable. You’ve got to know your keys, and you’ve got to be physical, play with a certain type of controlled violence that football would allow. We just got to do better overall. They have the ability to do better. We have I think probably five to six guys in that room that can really contribute right now and get something of some value out of. But they just got to play better. You should see much more of a rotation this week.”

On injuries to Omarion Miller and Dallan Hayden

“Hamstring. [Omarion Miller] is still out and not practicing. Hasn’t done anything since the game. But you got to understand he’s a phenomenal receiver. But we have some phenomenal, phenomenal receivers on this roster. We just got to give them opportunities to expose themselves because they are really good,” Sanders said. “[Dallan Hayden] practiced a little today. Still got a little ways to go, but he’s going to be okay. We’re not hurting in either of those rooms. Not that we don’t need those guys. We definitely need those guys, but we have pretty good depth in those rooms.”

Advertisement

On the running game

“I’m not totally happy, but I know we could run the ball at will,” Coach Prime said. “I know we have a physical offensive line. They want to run the football. We will run the football. Oftentimes, what [opposing defenses] are showing in the box predicates that as well. We got to be smart as well.”

On Kaidon Salter and Pat Shurmur settling in

“It’s these trick questions guys. If we hit the darn plays we hit, we wouldn’t be asking these questions,” Sanders said. “We had the plays. We just didn’t make it happen…You watched the same game I watched, right? We had what? Several plays we should have made happen. We didn’t. They did.”

Advertisement

On first glimpse at his new team

“That don’t matter, You see what you got man. Pretty much the first game, the first few games you kind of see what you got,” Sanders said. “You got to understand when flipping rosters like all colleges are now…you got to figure out what you got on the offensive side, defensive side and special teams. I hope [that we can improve]. If we don’t we got to try another guy because the roster is pretty deep.”

On final drive clock management

“Okay, lets just get the cat out the bag. All right first down, we throw a lateral pass, right? We lose four or five yards. Do you call a timeout there? No you’re right there. You don’t call a timeout there. You got to go. You got to go. So, you’re running tempo right? So the next play, what? You gain I guess 14 yards. No you got third and one, right? Do you call a timeout there? Third and one. You get the first down the clock stops. Correct? So you get the first down, the clock stopped. Okay, scramble play he ran out of bounds the clock stopped. Right? Now we throw the ball out the end zone. Clock stopped. Right. So when was the time to call a timeout? I’m just getting the elephant out the room you know what you want to say. I’m just trying to help you help me. Everything has it’s purpose man. Sometime it just don’t go like it’s supposed to go. We pray to God it goes well. This week we’re trying to fix what was broken last week and we’re on to this week. We’re not there last week. We’re past that.”

Advertisement

On Julian Lewis’ potential debut

“He’s playing. He’s playing this week for sure. I know when I’m going to see him. You just don’t know when you’re going to see him. I know when we’re gonna see him.”

On the team’s reaction to Georgia Tech loss

“Well, you’ve got to understand a lot of guys don’t understand the standard. You got Cam[‘ron Silmon-Craig], Jimmy [Horn Jr.], and some of the guys that played last year, and they understand the standard,” Sanders said. “You should have heard those guys getting on the guys. Now that was good because it’s a certain standard. It’s a certain level…we have expectations and some may not understand that. The hype of it all is intoxicating. Until you get out there. And then you started reading those comments after the game. Now you understand what we tried to tell you before the game. So, they understand now. I will put it like that. They get it.”

Advertisement

On Delaware

“Good team. Good team. They played against of my dear dear dear friend in Desean [Jackson], you know Coach Jackson,” Sanders said. “They got past them. They did well with their second quarterback. So, this team is tough. They’re going to spin the ball, throw it. They’re going to try and run it because what they just saw on film. So we just got to go out there and do what we’re capable of doing. passing as well as running the football effectively. We got the guys that can get the job done and we got to stop the run defensively and create plays. I think we had three turnovers. We got to cash in off those turnovers and we got to do a better job on our returns and special teams.”

On Colorado’s urgency

“First of all you start with the staff. The coaches have a sense of urgency tremendously. We had a sese of urgency. That didn’t change from week to week. So, going into last week’s game we just camp up short by several different components of the game; key components of the game. We have a sense of urgency. We’ve had one since we started last spring. So, it’s there. The personnel is there. We just got to make it happen.”

Advertisement

On the offensive line

“I think they played well. I think they were very physical. They graded out tremendously. Sometimes I don’t look at the grades. I rather look at the film. I think they were tremendously physical. We got to take advantage of some more opportunities that we could have had. They protected pretty well, the quarterback. We just got to do a better job of executing what’s called.”

On not going for it on fourth down

“Not in the rhythm, in the flow of that game,” Sanders said. “It was a certain rhythm it was a certain flow. The wrong call could put you right out of it. And what you want to do is make sure you give yourself a chance not only to catch momentum, but to succeed and to win. And it’s a feeling. It’s nothing that you have analytically. It’s a feeling.”

Advertisement

On Kaidon Salter’s missed scramble opportunities

“I don’t really have to sit down and say ‘Kaidon you should have ran it right there,'” Sanders said. “You don’t think he knows that? You know, I’m pretty sure the internet has told him if I didn’t tell him. I don’t have to babysit. These are some grown men getting handsomely paid. I’m pretty sure they understand what the objective is to win and to exercise their skill set to it’s best possible usage. He knows what his gifts are. You just got to use them.”

On Travis Hunter becoming a father

“I’m taking a deep breath because I love him to life. I love him like he’s a son,” Sanders said. “It’s funny when your son is now a father. So that’s why I had to really take a step back. It’s a beautiful thing. The thing that I told him is let’s correct all the things that we purposely think that we didn’t receive as a child and let’s correct that in our fatherhood. Let’s do that. And no matter what happens in life, let’s make sure we the best darn father that ever walked. That’s what I told him. And I’m proud of him and I love him to life. And I miss him. Dearly.”

Advertisement

On Delaware quarterback

“[Nick Minicucci] played well man. First of all, for a kid to come off the bench and do what he did is phenomenal,” Sanders said. Love him. Love the opportunity that he sees. It’s not like he’s a stranger to being out on the field getting reps. This kid is a baller. He was just prepared for his opportunity. So, hats off to him. We’re going to try and make it tough for him. He’s going to try and make it tough for us. I love what they’re doing. I really do… On film they do some nice things. They got some people that can make things happen offensively as well as them getting to the ball defensively.”

Follow Xavier Michnewicz onX.

Advertisement

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Deion Sanders press conference takeaways before Colorado vs. Delaware