FRISCO, Texas – A year ago, Deion Sanders made the trek from his home in Canton, Texas, to Big 12 media day at The Star.
The Colorado Buffaloes’ head coach was present, but he wasn’t himself.
Coach Prime hadn’t been in Boulder or even around his team in weeks. At the time, it was unknown publicly that he was battling bladder cancer.
As he arrived at The Star last July, he was dressed to the nines, at least outwardly.
“I had shorts up under (the suit) and I had a hoodie up under there, just because I had lost a large amount of weight and I didn’t want a lot of people to know,” he said Tuesday during 2026 Big 12 media day, once again at The Star. “Smiling, stylin’, profiling, trying to do the best I could to falsify how I was really feeling.”
On Tuesday, Sanders, 58, was himself again. He’s a year older but has the health and energy to try to get the Buffs back on track after a disappointing 3-9 season in 2025.
“I’m back, I’m healthy, and I got my thought process, my me back,” Sanders said.
Sanders has acknowledged that his absence throughout the spring and summer in 2025 impacted the Buffs last year. Now cancer-free, he’s put full effort into making sure this is a better season for the Buffaloes.
“He’s around every day this summer,” said senior safety Ben Finneseth, who is entering his fourth season under Sanders. “He’s been around more than I’ve ever seen him in my entire life. The way that he’s bought into our team this year, he’s taken it up another level.”
Sanders was engaged and around his team in previous years when healthy, but after a disappointing 2025 campaign that included a five-game losing streak to close the season and a lack of leadership, he’s made a point of being even more involved with the roster build and preparation.
“I sat there (in the office) with a couple of staffers and we watched every single guy thatap in that locker room on film and made the decision on every single guy, every single recruit,” he said. “Everything has just gone up. Everything. There’s not a ‘T’ thatap not crossed, an ‘I’ thatap not dotted. We are on it, and you can see by the recruiting, you can see by the team that we’ve assembled.”
The CU roster includes some key returning players, including quarterback JuJu Lewis, tight end Zach Atkins, receiver Joseph Williams, running back Micah Welch, and Finneseth.
Itap a roster thatap also loaded with transfers, including receivers Danny Scudero and DeAndre Moore, defensive lineman Santana Hopper, linebacker Gideon Lampron and defensive backs Cree Thomas, Boo Carter and Naeten Mitchell.
The coaching staff is also very different, including coordinators Brennan Marion (offense) and Chris Marve (defense).
“The coaching staff, I keep saying this is the best staff I’ve ever had in my life and they are,” Sanders said. “Thatap not to demean any of the previous coaches. They were good also, but these guys are special and they have the gift of communication with these young men. I’m excited about all of the possibilities. I really am.”
While Sanders is excited about his team, outside expectations are low. No Buffs were included on the preseason All-Big 12 team announced Monday, and several national publications have the Buffs finishing near the bottom of the 16-team Big 12.
“We don’t care about what people say,” he said. “People are always going to have an opinion. If my kids and my coaches and our staff don’t understand who they are, we have a problem. They’re not going to allow you to identify who we are, and just because our guys were snubbed off a poll thatap probably not going to be consistent with the end of the season, we don’t give a darn.
“Our kids know who, what, when, where, and how they are, and they know what they got to do, and how they got to work. It just gives them that extra oomph inside of them, and I’m thankful and appreciative of that.”
Sanders has some extra oomph, as well, as he enters his fourth season in Boulder feeling healthy and re-energized.
“Colorado has given me a tremendous opportunity that I’m so darn appreciative of, and I want to live up and surpass the expectations,” he said. “My younger self would be proud; would be proud that I was here last year fighting a battle called cancer, and now I’m here with full strength, full energy. I got that thing back, I got that swagger back, I got that dawg back, I got that charisma back.
“I cannot wait to get back on that sideline and do our thing. I can’t wait to get back to camp.”
