For someone who’s always taken a lot of pride in where he comes from, Deion sure had his fair share of reservations about admitting that he’s a graduate of Florida State University. Back in 2023, a video of Deion made a lot of rounds when he denied his association with the Seminoles. Still, after his recently earned respect for the team, it looks like he’s finally changed his mentality.

Deion Sanders is widely considered to be the best punt returner in the country at 15.2 yards per return, back during his time as a senior. He played as a defensive back for the Seminoles, where he won the Jim Thorpe Award. Though he had a fantastic 3-year career at FSU, he doesn’t seem to proudly accept that he was a graduate of the team but instead, chooses to term himself as an HBCU graduate. Cut to a year later, Deion is finally giving FSU the share of flowers it deserves, by complimenting Mike Norvell’s 2023 team.

Deion Sanders praises the 2023 FSU squad

In a pep talk that Deion was giving to the Colorado roster, he was seen discussing the teams with the most players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. The top 4 names included the teams that made it into the top 4 CFP spots last season – Michigan, Washington, Alabama, and Texas. What was interesting to note was the 5th team, which was Deion’s alma mater, FSU, to which the HC had a complimentary remark to make.

“Florida State should have been in the playoffs but they wasn’t, undefeated season, [they had] ten players drafted,” Sanders said in his statement. His kind words come in response to what Mike Norvell’s team did when they had an unbeatable 13-0 season and he also won the Paul Bear Bryant Coach of the Year award. Deion also termed the team as “winners” adding, “Winners want winners. That don’t mean that these are the best players. But when you have a program that wins, they tend to attract things.” Seems like he’s ready to accept his FSU roots, after all, even though he didn’t go into his own history with the program.

Additionally, after the Seminoles’ tremendous performance, Mike Norvell ended up beating other coaches like Nick Saban (Alabama), Kalen DeBoer (Washington), Jedd Fisch (Arizona), and Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri).

Furthermore, the 2023 incident drew a lot of heat on Deion for disrespecting his former coaches Mickey Andrews and Bobby Bowden, who helped him to scale great heights in his career. Furthermore, here’s a look at how Deion responded to all the backlash against him for his rude ignorance towards FSU’s legacy.

Deion’s response to the criticism against his FSU snub

The 3 seasons that Deion spent in Florida gave birth to the rest of his renowned reputation that would soon envelop the NFL as one of the GOATs. Due to his great performance at FSU, he was selected fifth overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 1989. As such, it took the fans by a great shock when he declined to acknowledge his roots, which began in Florida.

Amid all the storm around the incident, Deion chose to come out and type out a brutal clap back to the haters. “I was Him and still is. Your jersey only get retired if you’re a Dogg and 1 of the greatest ever and I was. Ain’t nobody give me nothing, I took it and earned it,” said Deion in defense of his claims of being a graduate of HBCU.

In the same tweet, he talked about how “the truth hurts,” indicating that there are a few things that he chose to keep behind the curtain, which could very well be the reason for his strained relationship with the team. With all that said and done, it seems as if he’s over the heated tensions and is ready to let go of the controversy by praising the FSU program and focusing on making his teams one of the best in the Big 12.