College football is a very novel and standalone microcosm of the sports realm. It’s atypical in how it is adjudicated. The fate of teams and individuals lies at the mercy of a committee or panel just as much as your own output. When it comes to voting for player awards, pro sports entail an arbitrary process. If you have the best numbers, you’re considered the best. Voting for CFB honors is more nuanced since not all teams traverse the same level of competition or schedule. In the case of Shedeur Sanders, this discrepancy is particularly conspicuous. Naturally, father-coach Deion Sanders is having none of it.

Now, it wouldn’t be like Deion to have rose-tinted glasses in affairs pertaining to his son, would it? The consensus among fans and the media alike is that Shedeur is the best QB in the sport. Yet, there are 2 separate quarterbacks invited to NY for the Heisman ceremony as finalists, but not him. To emphasize this apparent snub, Coach Prime took to social media to offer tangible evidence in favor of Shedeur. He also expressed his disbelief in the voters’ decree.

Deion Sanders reposted a graphic over on X, which pitted Shedeur’s 2024 stats directly against Oregon signal caller Dillon Gabriel. The numbers suggest Shedeur has had a superior season. He has almost 400 more yards and a much better TD-INT ratio. Yet, it’s Dillon who is nominated for the Heisman. Prime quoted the post by saying, “Lawd Jesus!” at the alarming nature of his son’s rejection for the accolade, disputing the difference in production. However, as aforementioned, awards in this sport are more nuanced than simply the numbers. However, that doesn’t necessarily suggest Shedeur doesn’t have a righteous case.

Shedeur Sanders is no.1 across the FBS in completion rate, 2nd in TDs through the air, 3rd in yardage and 5th in QB rating. To put that into perspective, no other signal-caller is even in the top 10 of all four of those categories. This reinforces his case against Dillon Gabriel and Cam Ward, the other QB voters deemed more suitable. The numbers that Deion floated only scratch the surface of Shedeur’s production.

Moreover, Shedeur commands the most fervor from NFL scouts as well as buzz in the media. These facets do play a part in the Heisman nomination process, as much as it is in vogue to deny this.  So why was he not part of the reckoning? Shedeur’s main hurdle is a bit of a paradox which he has himself contributed to.

Key reason for Deion Sanders’ appeal is a monster of his own doing

The runaway favourite for the Heisman Trophy is Travis Hunter. A phenom that has achieved this in large parts thanks to Shedeur and Deion Sanders themselves. The stronger Travis’ case got, it had a reciprocal effect on his QB’s own case. This is in part due to both Prime and Shedeur advocating and campaigning for Travis to win. Even if it inadvertently pushed Shedeur back in the pecking order. However, there is a more explicable reason.

Reasonably, it would appear as if the voters just didn’t want to acknowledge two players from non-playoff Colorado. The sheer unprecedented nature of Travis Hunter’s play got him the nod. Shedeur played well, really well. But he perhaps didn’t do enough to justify him getting ahead of Dillon Gabriel, who spearheads the No. 1 team in the country and could win the Natty.

As blasphemous as it may sound, Shedeur Sanders may not even be the best player on his team. Deion’s appalled reaction is rational, though. Unfortunately for him, this is not the first or the last time a player gets overlooked for an award. Travis Hunter had a very apt response to the voters’ call to not invite Shedeur to the Heisman ceremony on December 14. “Guess what? They’re all gonna be mad because he’s still gonna be there…No matter if they didn’t invite him.[If] I walk on that stage, he might walk on that stage. So, at the end of the day, we both won,” he said via his own YouTube channel.