Shedeur Sanders was not ready for the curveball life was about to throw at him. Decked up in diamonds, and a pendant that read “LEGENDARY”, the Colorado Buffaloes quarterback was ready for his name to be called out in the Top-3, which could maybe (just, maybe) slide down to 21 like many theorized. However, as Round 1 concluded, the shocking snub presented itself larger than ever. “All this is…fuel to the fire,” was his message hoping the next day would be kinder. Heads-up: It wasn’t. Ironically, another cold shoulder would comparatively be kinder if he’d known what was about to unfold.

The Sanders family gathered for the second day in a row waiting on that hallowed pick. Minutes before the New Orleans Saints were about to declare their choice of player for the 40th pick, the youngest Sanders son’s phone rang. Amid a lawn full of people, his brother Deion Sanders Jr’s Well Off Media coverage, and the soft glow of the setting sun, a voice from the other end said, “This is Mickey Loomis here, (general manager) of the Saints.” After sharing some pleasantries with the supposed GM, Sanders mentioned, “Been waiting on you.”

“It’s been a long wait, man. We’re gonna take you with our next pick right here, man,” the person on the other end said, when Shedeur endearingly stated, “Yes sir, let’s be legendary.” Finally, the wait was over… Only for a short while, though, as the person then said, “But you’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that,” and disconnected the call. Confused, the 22-year-old looked at his brother and asked, “What does that mean?” to which Jr responded, “You didn’t ask him what it means? He was on the phone.” A little while later, reality surfaced when the team selected Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough. Shedeuer realized he had been pranked.

Interestingly, the pranksters posted a video of the call on social media—before making the account private swiftly—where the counterfeit GM was wearing an Ole Miss sweatshirt. But who drew even more attention was Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich’s son. As per a now-viral tweet by College Transfer Portal, “Rumor has it that Jax Ulbrich, son of Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich, was behind the Shedeur Sanders prank call. This would explain how Sanders’ private number, meant only for NFL execs, got out.” Apparently, Jax also deleted his IG account soon after the video came out as pointed out by another user.

Looks like what was supposed to be just a brief moment of fun has even brought an official NFL investigation into the fray. The victim later reacted to the unfortunate incident mentioning how it didn’t have an impact on him, and how he doesn’t feed into negativity. “Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there,” the Browns QB concluded. His new head coach Kevin Stefanski reacted to the same calling the pranksters “morons”. 

However, the thing is, Jax isn’t the first one linked as a possible culprit behind the prank. Internet investigators also caught Giants GM Joe Schoen’s daughter involved in the matter.

Joe Schoen’s daughter linked to Shedeur Sanders’ prank call

Soon after the prank call ended, Shedeur Sanders showed maturity beyond his years. “The thing is, why get mad? Because they want you to have a certain type of reaction to it. They want you to feel bad. But I ain’t tripping,” Sanders said. Moments later, when the Saints finally announced their 40th pick and it wasn’t Shedeur Sanders, Deion reacted with a “Wow” while shaking his head. His son, who was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, led the FBS in pass completion rate, and had his No.2 jersey retired in Colorado, was getting ignored pick after pick.

Deion also later added, “I know what’s going on. This is to the point now where it’s like’ Hey, man, y’all gotta stop.” Seeing the pain the Sanders were going through, their supporters couldn’t stay quiet. They started digging into who made the prank call. And just like that, they found that Schoen’s daughter, Sydney, was liking comments linking her to the prank. Although there wasn’t any hard proof, the one who made the call was wearing an Ole Miss jersey.

And Schoen’s daughter apparently goes to Ole Miss. So, that’s how the internet investigators linked Sydney to the Sanders prank as a culprit. Obviously, Shedeur handled the situation like a man. He didn’t react, nor did he allow it to impact his confidence. He waited and waited until the Browns called his name. Now, Shedeur is off to Cleveland on a mission to prove his critics wrong. And once he does, the praises should be as loud as his criticism was. Legendary? Hopefully.