Deion Sanders proved he’s exactly where he needs to be after revealing his recruiting tactics during his recent interview on The Rich Eisen Show.
The now-University of Colorado Boulder football coach appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and discussed various football-related topics, from the Super Bowl to coaching CU’s Buffalo team.
When asked what he looked for during his recruiting process, Sanders said family dynamics mattered regarding certain positions. For example, he requires the quarterback to come from a dual-parent household.
“We have different attributes: smart, tough, fast [and] disciplined,” Sander responded. “Quarterbacks are different. We want mother-father, dual-parent. We want that kid to be 3.5 and up because he’s got to be smart. Not bad decisions off the field at all because he has to be a leader of men.”
He continued, “It’s so many different attributes in what we look for when we see a quarterback.”
Along with the quarterback position, Sanders required the lineman to come from a dual-parent household, highlighting that both had to have “a strong father that they adhered to.” Instead of requiring a 3.5 GPA, Sanders settled for a 3.3 GPA for his lineman.
He said that the attributes differed depending on the position. For his defensive line, his requirements described the majority of Black households, knowing damn well that many Black athletes were raised by single mothers.
“My defensive line is totally opposite,” he said. “Single mama, trying to get it, he’s on free lunch…I’m talking about just trying to make it. He trying to rescue mama. Like, mama barely made the flight.”
Many people didn’t like what Sanders said and took to Twitter to share their thoughts.
This is actually extremely racist regardless of the fact that @DeionSanders is Black. The reason why I say that is because for the longest you have had black people arguing about the discrimination of black quarterbacks and positions in the NFL. Now I’m not saying that black… https://t.co/e1cpnUeHgg pic.twitter.com/gpwgJ3Xlxp
— JP?? (@MrIntrospect222) February 22, 2023
His whole commentary is quite disturbing. And, Rich Eisen laughing. None of this is funny.
— WNBA Young Girl (@Garyville_Girl) February 23, 2023
Yeah, that was a perspective that most white coaches used “The White-Print” (racist). This is why most black quarterback weren’t picked because they were stereotyped. Deion, this is not only a bad take, but it’s disrespectful towards those who have a gift or talent to lead. ?
— JAMES A. VAUGHAN, MSW TSU ALUMNUS (??) THE ROOK! (@VAU68AN) February 23, 2023
I just can’t imagine being a player on his team and hearing this if you come from a single parent home
— Fredrip Douglass?? (@JohnECochran_) February 22, 2023
It’s not racist. It’s social economic prejudice
— Credit Kae ?? (@Kaebeezy) February 23, 2023
It’s ironic how Sanders made this comment, knowing his children have divorced parents, yet his 21-year-old Shedeur Sanders is a quarterback for the Colorado Buffaloes. In other words, his household isn’t dual-parent.
A 2019 study by the University of Michigan’s Director of Student-Athlete Alumni Relations, Jeff Porter, showed that many Black college football players were raised by single parents, some by a grandparent. Yet, the study saw they still had a chance to succeed, similar to those from dual-parent households.
