“Didn’t Love Deion Sanders as an Athlete”: Coach Prime’s Pastor Drops Astonishing Comment While Opening Up About Duo’s Relationship

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ByPankti Parmar

Dec 22, 2023 | 11:19 AM EST

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Coach Prime’s strong beliefs reverberate through his personality. Per Sanders, his spiritual journey has aided him throughout the initial wins, as well as the losses in the latter part of the season. This journey has been a core part of Sanders’ transitions, first within Jackson State and then from Jackson State to Colorado.

And the guiding hand behind this was an old friend of Deion Sanders, pastor E. Dewey Smith. Originally, Deion Sanders did not have the company of the Atlanta-area pastor since the beginning. Polar opposite to the current status of their relationship, Smith was rather skeptical about him when they first met. However, his doubts were quick to fade, the process of which he explained in a recent interview.

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Deion Sanders pastor on how they warmed up to each other

‘Thee Pregame Show’ featured Coach Prime’s pastor in thier latest episode. He started by talking about people, the people who were not a fan of Deion Sanders’s sports career. Which led him to be suspicious about Coach Prime’s career too, at one point. “Didn’t love Deion Sanders as an athlete,” confessed he. While he didn’t exactly reveal the reason behind this, he was more focused on how they met in the middle, and how well things have taken off since then.

The development of their relationship was as simple as it can get. They grew over each other. About 20 years ago, the two collided at a Men’s conference in Washington DC. It was when things “kicked off” between them, per Smith. Along with this, thier frequent meetings at Truth Academy and other places sent their relationship “to another level”. However, the transition of Deion Sanders was where the duo fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

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How pastor Smith took a special place in Sanders’ spiritual journey

Sanders’ journey with Jackson State, from ‘Prime Time’ to ‘Coach Prime’, was rocky. To make things worse, Sanders’ pastor, Bishop Omar, passed away in 2020. Since then, Coach Prime “needed a spiritual coach.” All this led Deion Sanders to turn to his old friend, pastor E Dewey Smith. Since then, Smith, senior pastor at House of Hope Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia, has been guiding Sanders through his spiritual journey.

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Coach Prime, being a man of faith, has been taking the journey very seriously. This is visible from the multiple appearances the duo makes, be it in the interviews or during the pre-game preparations. Oftentimes, the pastor gets the front-seat view for several games, highlighting the importance of him in Deion Sanders’ life.

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