The electric wave of popularity that Coach Prime brought to Boulder is unmatched. With his second season with the Buffaloes underway, the coach is sitting on high expectations this year to make a big impact on the team after the horrendous performance that they gave in 2023. But with his sons also on the same team as him, there have been questions raised on whether Deion is partial towards his children, and yet, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of proof about it.

Back in April, the father of Alton IV, Alton McCaskill III took to X to accuse Deion of favoritism when he refused to let Alton replace Dylan Edwards as the leading RB in the team. The since-deleted tweet said, “Unfortunately, (we) have to find another home where there’s no favoritism and (where) he is valued, appreciated and has no doubts.” Though Deion has hardly been bothered by these allegations, here’s former safety for the Buffs coming out in defense for Coach Prime and his coaching tactics.

Matt McChesney defends Deion against favoritism claims

On the 28th July episode of the ‘Zero 2 Sixty with Matt McChesney show, the Colorado alumni broke down the impact that Deion Sanders has had on college football. In a later segment, he talked about Deion’s coaching style and how it’s far away from any supposed “favoritism” within the squad.

Chesney said that Deion works on every player’s prowess rather than just his own two sons. He said, “Look, Coach Prime is so unique in the way he does things because he breaks molds. He came in and said f*** all that, we’re scrapping everything and we’re going to do it the way it’s supposed to be done, which is each individual kid and each individual relationship is worked on individually.” However, this isn’t what other players had to say during their exit interviews when they claimed that one of the only times that they ever had an interaction with Deion, was when he released them from the team.

Deion has always been rather strict about not looking like a father who favors his kids on the gridiron. Additionally, he once said to his son Shilo, “I’m not your father, I’m your coach.” And yet, the team witnessed a mass exodus of 23 players deciding to leave Boulder after the 2023 season, among which many of them blamed the coach for not being a more hands-on leader. While McChesney continues to defend Coach Prime’s way of coaching, it is evident that it isn’t all rainbow and sunshine in the squad as the HC puts it. With that being said, here are both Shilo and Shedeur defending their father against the claims of favoritism and how they’re untrue.

Deion’s sons speak up against the favoritism in the team

After the disappointing 2023 season, reports started to surface with several players and other sources complaining about a sense of partiality from Deion towards his sons and other star players. They would suggest that some players were constantly getting playing time while others would not get a chance to get off the bench. Shedeur and Shilo both addressed these rumors and claimed that the players who were making these complaints were the same people who would do something specific to upset the coaches or prove to be unplayable.

Shedeur took to a presser in April and said, “If you’re not playing here, that just means you’re doing something wrong. If you’re not playing here that means you’re doing something—not listening to the coaches or something.”

His brother and the safety for the team, Shilo, supported his brother’s comments and called out the players who use social media to talk poorly of the program for not giving them enough opportunities. He said, “They might get on Instagram or Twitter or say something, but it’s not like you’re even doing anything, bro. Y’all don’t know what is going on at practice every day because you just see highlight plays here and there, but we practice every day, almost. We know who is who and if somebody was done wrong, we would know that.” Moreover, even if the claims of Deion being more biased towards Shedeur were true, there’s no denying the fact that the QB is one of the best in his class and has proved to be more talented than his other teammates. Which begs the question, how much of the “favoritism” allegations is just sheer envy rather than a desire to get better?