Deion Sanders has gone to great lengths to prove he’s the ‘Prime Time’. Last season, Deion appointed the Marine Corps to train the players. We have seen his pupil, Travis Hunter, carrying heavyweights underwater. We have seen players in groups of two carrying heavy logs. Unfortunately, at the end, Deion’s efforts to physically bolster his boys went in vain. Colorado got eliminated from the Big 12 championship run. This time, they can’t afford to make any mistakes. Deion has even revamped his roster by appointing a new head strength and conditioning coach this season. And the new one is all tuned in his role and keeps Deion’s army on their toes with a stern warning.

The coach who comes with a much-needed vocal tonic for the Buffs tribe is none other than Andreu Swasey. Maurice Sims has been in that position for the previous two years. However, he transitioned to director of sports performance in January this year. And Deion exactly knew who would fill Sims’ shoes. After all, Swasey walks in with a resume of having served as strength and conditioning coach for the Miami Hurricanes for 15 years. His Miami stint has been divided into two. First as an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 1997-1998 and then as the head of the strength and conditioning program from 2001-16. He was Miami’s co-head strength and conditioning coach in 2000. Walking into Boulder, he is already on a mission to tune Deion’s boys into a physically and mentally motivated squad. 

On the June 9 episode of Reach The People Media, some clips from the Buffs’ summer training camp were uploaded. In that video, Swasey is spotted in the center, surrounded by Deion’s boys. Just a little chat session amidst the grueling workouts. The coach started with, “What do we see about the workout, like, what do you think how the workout went [today]?” The evaluation window in the Buffs camp stretches from Monday to Monday. And the entries started to pour in, “attention to detail,” “less mistakes” and so on and so forth. Then Deion’s coach came up with the question, “How do we make it better?” That’s when someone from the crowd said, “Focus.” Yes, that’s the exact word that Swasey had been looking for. And he elaborated on it.  

“Here’s what happens with teams when we talk about being mature? What happens when you start feeling good about the workout: you know what I’m saying. You starting to master the workout, you start feeling yourself… but here’s what happens: When you start feeling good about yourself, we lose what? Focus. Focus. And this is what I was trying to tell y’all, as you start feeling yourself and start feeling good, this is when you got to do what? Lock in and become more disciplined about the details.” This advice came from someone who is credited with coaching over 100 NFL draft picks, including 35 first-round picks. NFL players such as New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and Denver Broncos wide receiver Phillip Dorsett II. 

Meanwhile, while the coach stepped into Boulder, he was aware of the past that he needed to fix now. Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes finished the regular season in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 Conference. But their run was shut out because they lost to Kansas and Kansas State earlier in 2024. While Swasey is spotted running high on motivation to flip the script, where is Deion?

Deion Sanders’ mysterious absence sparks concern

While CU’s annual slate of summer football camps got underway last week in Boulder, Deion was away at his estate in Texas. The reason? According to the reports, Coach Prime is dealing with an unspecified health issue. After all, in both 2023 and 2024, we have seen how Deion never missed a day to supervise the summer camps. Operating them is listed as one of the official duties in his employment contract with CU. While concerns are mounting behind the tentative date of Deion’s return to Boulder, Deion Sanders Jr. came with an update.

On Sunday, June 8, Bucky appeared on a YouTube livestream from the family estate in Canyon, Texas, where he said his father was in his room and “feeling well.” The Well Off Media tycoon assured, “He’ll tell y’all soon enough what he going through, what he went through. When we get back in Boulder, I don’t know. I’m waiting until my dad leaves. When he leaves, then I’ll go. Until then, I’m gonna sit here with him.”

The earlier the return, the better. After all, Deion Sanders has some unfinished business in Boulder. After a successful Julian “JuJu” Lewis chase, Colorado has landed the quarterback. On the other hand, Deion has brought in the Liberty Flames quarterback, Kaidon Salter. So, an absolute tug-of-war kind of situation is prevailing for the QB1 spot in Boulder. While Salter is gaining the votes from analysts, a new problem pops up for Deion. As RJ Young highlighted, “Kaidon Salter is going to help this, but there’s no getting around this, the run game at Colorado has been garbage since Prime arrived. It’s been non-existent.” All eyes on Deion’s comeback—passing Shedeur’s legacy down and tightening the screws on Colorado’s rushing woes.