CU Buffs’ Deion Sanders away from Boulder, dealing with unspecified health issue

An unspecified health issue has kept Colorado head coach Deion Sanders at his home in Texas and it’s unclear when he’ll return to Boulder to be with the Buffaloes.

USAToday reported on Sanders’ health issues, citing comments from Deion Sanders Jr. from a YouTube livestream on Sunday.

Deion Jr., who is with Coach Prime at the Sanders estate in Canton, Texas, said his father was feeling well.

“He’ll tell y’all soon enough what he going through, what he went through,” Deion Jr. said on the livestream, according to USAToday. “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.”

BuffZone reached out to CU, but CU is not commenting at this time.

Coach Prime, 57, has dealt with health issues in recent years, going back to his time as Jackson State’s head coach in 2021. He had several surgeries that fall, including having two toes amputated on his left foot.

When hired at CU in December of 2022, Sanders walked with a limp and had not been able to run since the 2021 surgeries. In the summer of 2023, however, prior to his first season at CU, Sanders had two surgeries to fix blood clots. He missed Pac-12 football media day that summer because of his health, but those procedures improved his mobility and he has been able to run since then.

It is unclear if the current health issues are related to the previous issues with his blood clots.

Sanders last spoke with local media after the Buffs’ spring game on April 19.

Since then, Sanders has not done much media. But, on May 30, he appeared on a podcast with former NFL great Asante Samuel, a conversation that went for about an hour.

At the end of that podcast, Sanders spoke briefly about his health, saying, “What I’m dealing with right now is a whole other level. … I’ve done no media, I’ve done nothing for a minute. … I’ve lost 14 pounds. I’m coming back, but I needed this. I needed this exchange because I haven’t had any energy.”

Last week, Sanders was unable to attend CU’s camp for high school graduates on June 3, as well as a camp for high school players on June 5. He is also not attending a youth camp that CU is hosting Tuesday and Wednesday this week. USAToday reported that Sanders also canceled a speaking engagement in Florida scheduled for this past Sunday.

Also last week, the current team returned to Boulder and began summer workouts. Those are being directed, as usual, by the strength and conditioning staff, led by Andreu Swasey.

During a podcast with DNVR on Friday, Christopher Neely from Thee Pregame Show, who has been close with Sanders since 2020 at Jackson State, talked about Sanders’ health.

“He’s doing good, man,” Neely said. “One of the things we ended spring saying was this was the most energetic and enthusiastic Coach Prime I’ve been with, and that’s going back to the spring COVID season (in spring 2021).

“As he told Asante, he had a little setback. But nothing that with rest he can’t overcome. I FaceTimed with him the other day. When he is home, people get a to-do list. Please know he is still the head coach of this football program as he takes some time off. But he is still engaged, energetic.”

Sanders’ youngest son, Shedeur, who starred at CU the last two years and is now a rookie with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, did not talk about his father’s health when asked about it after practice on Tuesday.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I’m here not to talk about pops,” he said to Cleveland media. “I’m here for the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. I’m focused on learning this playbook and everything I’ve got to do to be the most successful quarterback I can be and be the best teammate I can be.”

Coach Prime is scheduled to appear at Big 12 football media days in Frisco, Texas, July 8-9. The Buffs open preseason camp in late July or early August and open the season on Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech at Folsom Field.

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