Michael Irvin has never been shy about his place in football history, and he’s now taking some credit for the launch of Deion Sanders‘ legendary career. Revisiting their college days, the Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer claimed that he had helped put Coach Prime in the spotlight as one of the electrifying defensive backs, though not in the way everyone might expect.

Michael Irvin mentioned in the YouTube video segment, “I joke with Deion, saying I put Deion on the map, but I really did. Really did put I couldn’t at I didn’t put him on the map because I was the biggest, baddest dude in the world. I put him on the map because he made the biggest, baddest play. I was a young buck. We were both freshmen, you know what I mean? It’s my first year.”

“And this joke, man, this joke, I ran out and up and beat him…It was Miami Florida State, and boom, I ran down up beat him, and he came back and intercepted that ball, pushed me down, caught the ball, and held the ball up and ran the other way. That was the picture they used of his big major coming out in Sports Illustrated. That was the picture I said. I made Deion. But Deion and I came up together.”

Contrary to Irvin’s claim of being freshmen together, both him and Deion Sanders did not face each other as freshmen. Irvin played his freshman season for the Miami Hurricanes in 1985 while Sanders arrived at Florida State a year later as a freshman in 1986.

Keeping the facts aside, Irvin framed the “putting Deion on the map claim ” as a running gag between the two longtime friends, but he insisted there’s real substance behind it. He clarified that his own status had nothing to do with it. Instead, Irvin argued that Sanders made his name by making a huge play against him during his freshman year when he was playing for Miami, and Sanders was at Florida State.

According to Irvin, he ran a route and beat Sanders on the play, but the young defensive back recovered. That moment became special in the image that followed. Sports Illustrated used that image of Sanders celebrating the interception to mark Sanders’ arrival on the national stage.

Later, both teammates met in Dallas, where Sanders arrived in the mid 1990s to join an Irvin-led Cowboys team, going from the heated Miami-Florida State rivalry to uniting in the NFL.

The story underscores the competitive nature between the two football icons. Irvin went on to become one of the most prominent receivers in Cowboys history, winning three Super Bowls with Dallas and earning induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

Sanders also built an equally remarkable legacy, as he starred in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and other teams. He won two Super Bowls, earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, and later transitioned into coaching, becoming widely known as Coach Prime.

Irvin’s claim is likely meant to be taken with a grin. Sanders’ talent was never in question, and a single interception, however memorable, didn’t make him a star on its own. But the story is a reminder of how much of football comes from moments between rivals, where one player’s best play can come at another’s expense.