“I love this man to death.” If this quote by Warren Sapp doesn’t sum up his friendship with Deion Sanders, nothing will. Coach Prime wanted Sapp at the Buffs despite his troubled past and fought to get him. The bond between Sanders and Sapp existed outside the walls of the program in Boulder and it is as strong as ever. So, when the Buffaloes themselves seemed to snub Warren off, Deion got a bit protective.

Warren Sapp was hired by the Colorado Buffaloes as a graduate assistant coach in March. The Super Bowl winner is taking a salary of $150,000 in his debut year and will offer the Buffaloes his wisdom and guidance stemming from a glorious 13-year NFL career. The role he has to play could pan out to be crucial and as such, Sanders seems to value his input.

On 30th June, the official Instagram account of the Colorado Buffaloes posted a variety of playing cards of several vintage players like Kevin Mathis, Jason Phillips, Gary Harrell, Phil Loadholt, Trevor Reilly, and Damione Lewis but Coach Prime didn’t seem too happy about the fact that they left out his friend and fellow coach, Warren Sapp.

Under the comments, Deion posed the page with a question, “Where’s Sapp?” which is a valid inquiry since Sapp was one of the best of his generation. The DT had a 13-year-long career with the Buccaneers and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Plus, since he’s now a valuable member of the Buffs coaching setup, it doesn’t seem right that the team didn’t choose to include him in the list.

Since his arrival at CU, Sapp has been keen to help the players at the Buffs to prepare them for the upcoming NCAA season. He is already trying to stamp his authority during the summer practice camp. On the June 26th episode of The Pregame Show Network’s Wednesdays with Warren, he talked about getting furious over Buffaloes’ silly errors by jumping offside in training.

“I am standing down just looking, you know. So the second group comes in… He jumped outside too. I got real heated. I said a couple of choice words to them, then I walked off without even saying anything.” Sapp mentioned that the mistakes by players made him question whether he was able to get through to them, something he made sure the players knew as well.

Further, Sapp has made it clear that he will “straighten players up” as they look to improve from last season’s 4-8 record. Being coached by two Gold Jackets means the players in Boulder have high standards to live up to. And if they thought Coach Prime was more than enough, Sapp is only amping the ante.

With all that said, here’s a look at the positive affirmations Sanders had to make about his dear friend, Warren Sapp when it was announced that he’d be coming to the Colorado Buffaloes. Not only that, Sapp has also spoken how he feels about working with Prime Time.

Coach Prime’s song of praise for Warren Sapp before his official hiring

The possibility of Warren Sapp coming to Colorado was confirmed by Sanders back in November 2023. As per the HC, Sapp had an amazing “thought-provoking” process and he has also been working with both the offensive and defensive lines.

Deion spoke endearingly about Sapp and his importance to the team and said, “I’m excited about Coach Sapp. He’s a dear friend that I love to live with, and he’s going to be invaluable to what he brings to the table. As far as the recruits as well, they’re going to love him. I mean, he’s that—he’s a wealth of knowledge and he’s hilarious, man.”

But it wasn’t easy to get him to Colorado. Sapp was fired from the NFL network in 2015 after being arrested on misdemeanor charges of assault in Phoenix.  In the same year, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor domestic battery in Las Vegas after being accused by his girlfriend.

Thus bringing him to Boulder meant Sanders was taking a big risk and it was something that would bring some negative publicity to the program. Back in January, it seemed it wouldn’t happen. Steve Hurlbert, spokesman for CU Boulder said there had been no talks about hiring Sapp, but Coach Prime finally got his man. CU did state that Sapp completed all of the necessary steps to be employed at the University, “including a background check.” 

As the Buffs returned from the break, Sanders addressed the players on the day and introduced Sapp. Afterward, Sapp praised Sanders saying, “I love this man to death from the first time I saw him… I’ve been a Deion Sanders fan since I was 12 years old. So we all here for the man. Let’s go riding. Championship time!“

The two of the most spectacular defensive players of their eras will be joining forces to lead the Buffaloes to glory. This season of college football is setting up to be an explosive one and if the football spins in Colorado’s favor, they might just showcase a whole different side to them, one that redeems them from last season.

But for now, getting a playing staff card of Warren Sapp might be on the agenda for the Buffs after Sanders called them out.