Deion Sanders Expected To Accept Lucrative Colorado Contract, Implies He'd Bring Star QB Son With Him

Deion Sanders is set to become the next head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder, barring an unforeseen change of heart. Nothing has been made official, but an announcement is expected after the SWAC Championship.

According to Pete Thamel, Sanders has already been preparing for his future with the Buffaloes. He and his associates have reportedly "spent the week recruiting on-field staff, support staff and transfer portal players to Colorado."

In addition to players currently in the portal, if/when Sanders leaves Jackson State for a lucrative opportunity in the Pac-12, he will likely bring his son with him. That was the insinuation earlier this week.

Sanders, who took over a bad FCS program in Mississippi prior to the 2020 season, has led a remarkable turnaround. The Tigers went 3-8 in 2015, 2016 and 2017 before going 4-4 in 2018 and 4-8 in 2019. They were not very good, clearly.

In Coach Prime's first year with the program, which was shortened by COVID-19, Jackson State won more games than it lost. While a winning record was an improvement, back-to-back 11-win seasons in 2021 and 2022 made it clear that the Magnolia State program was on the up and up.

A large part of the Tigers' successes in the last two seasons stem from Sanders' son Shedeur. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound quarterback was a former four-star recruit and has lit the SWAC on fire.

Could Jackson State's Deion Sanders and son Shedeur both be Boulder-bound? (Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Shedeur completed 65.9% of his passes for 3,231 yards and 30 touchdowns in 13 games last season and has completed 70.3% of his passes for 3,063 yards and 32 touchdowns through 11 games this year. He's electric.

Although Jackson State still has at least one game left, the SWAC Championship on Saturday, it is all-but a done deal that Coach Prime is headed to the Power Five level. Assuming that nothing changes between now and then, an announcement will come as soon as Saturday night.

According to college football insider Dennis Dodd, the Buffaloes' offer is significant. He says that the University of Colorado Boulder is willing to pay Sanders a base salary of $5 million per year, with incentives that could bump that number to $7 million.

To put that number in perspective, Colorado's last head coach made $3.2 million per year.

Shedeur & Deion Sanders — package deal?

Once Sanders' signature is on the Colorado contract, it sounds like it will be a package deal. The team is going to get Deion as head coach and Shedeur as quarterback.

At least, that is what Coach Prime implied earlier this week.

Deion bringing Shedeur with him to an FBS program would not be a big surprise. In fact, Coach Prime will likely bring — or at least try to bring — a lot of his Jackson State roster, including former No. 1 overall recruit Travis Hunter Jr.

Perhaps that notion of an immediate talent bump factored into Colorado's offer?