Deion Sanders on criticism: ‘I’ve been on the cross a long time’

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders had to get something off his chest Tuesday when addressing the news media in Boulder.

He wanted to address a report that had been circulating on social media that said he had ordered the Colorado band to stop playing the school fight song after touchdowns by his quarterback son Shedeur and instead play his son’s rap song called “Perfect Timing.”

“That’s idiotic,” Deion Sanders said. “Y’all know that. When you saw that, you know that was a lie.”

He then discussed the problem involving online content these days – how much of it is not fact-checked or confirmed by experienced, principled journalists. In another case, online critics made a mistaken assumption about Shedeur after his team lost at Nebraska last week, 28-10.

Some criticized how Shedeur left the field for the locker room before the game ended, wrongly assuming he was selfishly bailing on his teammates. That also was not true. Shedeur left the field to get treatment for an injury along with another player.  

Deion Sanders flexes power he said he won’t use

Deion Sanders brought this up before his Buffaloes (1-1) play at rival Colorado State (1-1) Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. ET game on CBS.

“We gotta to start having some kind of accountability to this,” Sanders said. “I understand that this is a free and open world, that everybody is not a journalist. Everybody is not an analyst. Everybody really hasn’t put in a lot of work to do what you all do. I’m thankful for many of y’all that take your job and your craft serious, and consequently you get facts before you run with false narratives. But please know that stuff affects people. Me. You’ve been attacking me my whole life, so I’m good, but other people that’s involved, band members, Buffs faithful and alumni and all that, sometimes they don’t know what to believe, and often times in life we believe the first thing we hear, in which we shouldn’t.

“I would just challenge you to be more responsible with your reporting. And I never wanted it to get personal, so when it gets personal you’ve got to really think about that.”

Sanders then flexed some power he said he won’t use.

“You gotta understand I have a huge platform,” Deion Sanders said. “I could really get personal if I wanted to, but I chose not to do that because that’s not right. Some things in life is just not right, and I don’t want to go there and I won’t go there, But think about it, just my family alone, the platform is enormous. If we really wanted to go there, we could go there. But we would never do that. We weren’t raised like that.”

Shilo Sanders out 2-3 weeks

Sanders and the Buffs could be without several top players when they play at Colorado State. He said Tuesday that his son Shilo is out two to three weeks after having forearm surgery recently. Shilo Sanders, a safety, was Colorado’s leading tackler last season but came out of last week’s loss at Nebraska with the injury in the first quarter.

Deion Sanders also said running back Dallan Hayden, the team’s leading rusher this year with 52 yards on 14 carries, is out with an unspecified injury after transferring in from Ohio State.

Starting defensive lineman Chidozie Nwanko, a transfer from Houston, also is questionable to play, Sanders said.

‘I’ve been on the cross for a long time’

This will be the second straight rivalry game on the road for Colorado, which struggled last week to run the ball and block for the quarterback – two issues that plagued the Buffs last season when they finished 4-8.

“The benefit is you’ve gotta get up,” Sanders said. “Prayerfullly, you learn your lesson from a week ago, and you gotta get up.”

At the same time, the pressure and the criticism have intensified after the loss to Nebraska.

“When you lose, you’re going to be ridiculed, you’re gonna be prosecuted and persecuted,” Sanders said. “And I’m good. I’ve been on the cross for a long time, and I’m still hanging.”

Deion Sanders talks about Jay Norvell’s wife

Last year’s game against Colorado State received intense pregame hype after Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell took a verbal shot at Sanders’ habit of wearing hats and sunglasses indoors. It’s quieter this week so far. On Tuesday, Sanders was asked about Norvell and his wife Kim after Kim Norvell made critical comments about Shedeur on social media in December after the controversy was detailed again on an episode of the “Coach Prime” documentary series.

Sanders said Tuesday he recently met Kim Norvell at an offseason meeting.

“I’m not looking for an apology” Sanders said when asked if he was. “I just met her. She was delightful.”

Sanders added that “I don’t judge people based off what they say when they’re emotional.”

“I can’t do that man,” he said. “My heart ain’t built like that. I just met his wife, and she was delightful.”

Colorado beat Colorado State last year in Boulder, 43-35.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com