Given that he has been in the public eye for the better part of the past 40 years, there’s only so much sports fans don’t know about Deion Sanders.

For Colorado fans wondering what exactly they’re getting in their new football coach, there’s still some level of mystery. Sanders generated no shortage of headlines in his three seasons at the helm of the Jackson State football program, due in some part to the success of his teams, but what does a Sanders-led program really look like from the inside?

Fortunately, there are now some clues. Late last month, “Coach Prime”, a four-part Amazon Prime documentary series on Sanders and Jackson State’s 2022 season, debuted on the streaming service. The show offers something of an inside look at Sanders’ last season with the Tigers and offers a glimpse into how he operates as a coach.

I recommend checking the show out, but if you haven’t seen it yet – or even if you have – we’ve got some thoughts and observations from the series as it pertains to the Buffs.

He’s an involved coach

Some of the skepticism initially surrounding Deion’s arrival at Jackson – and frankly any prominent ex-player who gets into coaching – is how invested he would be in the job. College coaching, especially in football, is a profession that is outwardly glamorous, but in reality, it’s a draining, all-consuming and oftentimes miserable way to make a living, especially if you’re already extremely wealthy and don’t need the money. If you’re not relying on the job to be financially secure, will you go to the absurd lengths such a line of work often necessitates?

From what the documentary shows you – which, admittedly, is overwhelmingly content that paints the titular coach in a positive light – you can see that Sanders is genuinely passionate about what he’s doing. The prestige that comes from the gig helps, sure, but he’s someone who clearly cares about the intricacies of coaching.

A self-professed “old school” coach, Sanders is intense during games, laying into his players when things aren’t going well. Even when they are – like when Jackson State led Southern by 23 points at halftime of the SWAC championship game – he still demands better, believing in that moment that while his team was winning, it wasn’t sufficiently dominant.

“He gives it to you raw and direct and some people can’t take that,” Jackson State (and now Colorado) linebackers coach Andre’ Hart said. “But his intentions are always good and it usually works out in the best way. Sometimes, I can’t stand him because I’m like ‘Dude, you wrong, you wrong, you wrong about a kid’ and the next thing you know, something happens and he looks over and his fingers are like that, he does that thing. And he’s right. He’s right. But I’m gonna be a head coach because of that guy.”

While you don’t really hear him talk a lot of football specifics – mostly because it wouldn’t be competitively advantageous or make for engaging content – you can tell he embodies qualities of a CEO-type leader, whose teams can be successful with right coaches around him.

He compartmentalizes well, perhaps best exhibited during halftime of Jackson State’s season-opener against Florida A&M, when he found out his grandmother died. After talking with his mother, he went into the locker room, delivered a rousing speech and his team went on to out-score its opponent 35-0 in the second half on its way to a 59-3 victory against a strong Rattlers squad that went on to go 9-2 last season.

There’s empathy in the way he approaches his job, as well. Before that Florida A&M game in Miami, Sanders is shown speaking with injured star cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter, whose playing status was uncertain due to an injury. Hunter wanted to play, especially since he’s from nearby West Palm Beach and had family scattered throughout the stadium for his college debut. When a difficult decision had to be made, Sanders was there with helpful and thoughtful guidance.

“I’ve got to take care of your career, my brother, and I’ve got to treat you like you a son to me,” the coach said. “That’s how we’ve always treated all y’all.”

Hunter ended up playing and cried as he thanked Sanders profusely shortly before the game started.

He’s even more charismatic than you thought

At times, Sanders’ words are almost secondary when he’s under the lights speaking to a group. His charisma, confidence and cadence swallow whatever it is he’s saying, guaranteeing he could grip an audience simply by reciting an instruction manual.

For someone who has covered college athletics for a decade, I can’t lie – while I’m often a careful listener, there are occasional press conferences and media sessions in which I zone out when the coach is talking at certain points. Their message ultimately becomes a jumbled word salad that doesn’t demand my attention in that moment and, with a recording device, I can always listen back to what they’re saying later.

It won’t be that way at Colorado moving forward. Sanders is a gifted public speaker, whether that’s organic, practiced or some combination of the two. He says many of the right things in captivating ways. A big part of being a college head coach is getting young, impressionable players to believe in what you’re selling and to squeeze something out of them that they previously didn’t think was possible. In that area, Sanders shines.

Everything at a Prime-led program is content

Shortly after Sanders was introduced as Colorado’s coach in early December, a now-famous (or infamous) video emerged of his first meeting with his new team in which he bluntly told the Buffs’ returning players that, effectively, they might want to look elsewhere to resume their college careers.

The message itself wasn’t unusual. It varies based on the personality of the coach, but such meetings are sometimes confrontational and awkward. I know of one story where a newly hired coach asked for the returning upperclassmen to stand up. Once they did, he said “You motherf****** got the last guy fired. You’re not about to do that to me.” By comparison, Sanders’ words were relatively tame. What stood out about Sanders’ speech wasn’t necessarily what he said. It was that what’s usually a behind-closed-doors occasion was being filmed and packaged as content.

Sanders runs his program in a way few college coaches do, even in an increasingly social-media-savvy world. Cameras are everywhere documenting the inner workings of the program. The mere existence of this series speaks to that fact.

Throughout the series, you’ll see other cameras filming in the background as the Amazon cameras roll. During certain games, players are giving brief interviews on the sideline to the Amazon crew. Intimate moments like Sanders speaking with his mother after his grandmother’s death are filmed. In hindsight, the first meeting at Colorado being shared with the world isn’t too much of a surprise, as Sanders kicked a player off the Jackson State team after putting it to a team vote following a story in which he vaguely described a scenario involving a family member who he was having a problem with (it was odd).

From the perspective of a fan or media member, it’s a fascinating peek at what is often a mysterious operation. But we’re not the ones a series like this is meant to appeal to the most.

This is a recruiting tool

In an era of college athletics in which most players view themselves not only as athletes but brands waiting to be monetized, the documentary series serves an important purpose.

With this kind of show, you get to meet and feel like you know some of the other players. There’s Isaiah Bolden, the cornerback who’s the son of a former NFL player who has professional aspirations of his own. There’s De’Jahn “Nugget” Warren, a cornerback whose mental health struggles are chronicled on the show. Even as you get a better sense of who these young men are, the conversation often shifts back to a familiar subject – their coach.

“When Coach Prime called me, you’ve got to just smile,” Bolden said. “If the GOAT can see some potential in me, screw what everybody else could say.”

The show ultimately centers around Sanders, but his players get plenty of camera time. A point is made to show NFL scouts at one of Jackson State’s practices, indicating to potential recruits that they can get the exposure to the next level they so desperately crave. On the back of players’ practice jerseys are their social media handles, a potential way to increase their visibility beyond the field.

By being subjects of this kind of a show, the players cease to be just athletes at a school in Mississippi, but characters in a show watched by millions of people nationally. And that makes for one hell of a pitch to a teenager.

“If they want exposure, we are going to give them exposure,” Sanders said last month in an interview with Shannon Sharpe. “We know how to use social media like no other. And we did not even have the resources at Jackson State. Now we do. We have a whole team of people designed specifically to make you shine. And I am going to help them do that.”

The Buffs are getting some good players

While players in less prominent roles are featured in the show, a good amount of the attention not dedicated to Sanders falls on his son and Hunter.

Shedeur Sanders is impressive based on what the series shows of him. He comes across as level-headed and mature. During games, he’s calm and composed even in adverse situations, something his father said has been a characteristic of his throughout his life, noting there’s “just a smoothness about him. He’s got it.”

Hunter is predictably spectacular, a player who looks the part of a former No. 1 recruit nationally. Even as he battled injuries as a freshman at Jackson State, his talent and potential were evident every time he touched the ball or an opposing quarterback spent all game avoiding throwing to his side of the field.

“He can take over a game defensively and offensively,” said Jackson State assistant T.C. Taylor, who was named the Tigers’ head coach following Sanders’ departure. “There’s only one other person that kind of was like that, that I know of, and he’s kind of leading us right now.”

His impact on Jackson State was obvious, though perhaps overstated

The story of Sanders’ stay in Jackson was never just about his work as a football coach. As it was billed, and as Sanders so often said himself, it was about lifting up the program, its town and under-resourced HBCU football as a whole.

In the series, the work he did in improving the Tigers beyond just their record is clear. They have an upgraded locker room, a new turf practice field and new uniforms. A number of those improvements were funded in part by Sanders himself or through corporate donations that Sanders sought. The team takes chartered flights and when the water in Jackson became undrinkable, the players were put up in a nearby hotel. During that water crisis, Sanders not only had his players handing out large packages of bottled water to local residents, but once the season began, the team itself provided a welcome distraction. It showed both the power of sports and the importance of that program to the larger Jackson community.

“For me to come out and see what he’s done here at JSU, it’s unmatched by anybody I’ve seen come in and coach at the HBCU level,” said Michael Strahan, an HBCU graduate (Texas Southern) who was one of the show’s executive producers.

Overall, the show did a good job of highlighting HBCU football, from how such schools became established to the proud history of many of the programs, including Jackson State, to the pageantry of homecoming.

By doing so, it chipped away at some of the most grandiose proclamations of what Sanders did at Jackson State and in the HBCU universe.

The Tigers played in a big stadium that regularly drew large crowds from their passionate following well before he ever stepped on campus. They produced four Pro Football Hall of Famers, most notably Walter Payton. There’s no denying that Sanders revitalized that program competitively and financially, but that impact was largely limited to his own school, not all of HBCU football. HBCU players and coaches still face many of the same obstacles they have for decades, from a lack of funding to subpar facilities to meager mainstream media coverage to a narrow path to the professional ranks for their players. How many players can you name from North Carolina Central, the team that beat Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl? How about its coach? How about any player or any coach from any HBCU program that’s not Jackson State?

The increased visibility that Sanders purportedly brought to HBCU football was mostly exclusive to his own program and, frankly, himself. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Sanders will naturally command attention by virtue of being who he is and he’s not responsible to anyone beyond himself, his players and his program. But that’s not how Sanders’ Jackson State tenure was often framed by his biggest supporters and himself.

Stray thoughts

- I would expect to start seeing a lot more celebrities around Boulder beyond just Sanders. Among the notable figures who appeared on “Coach Prime” were The Rock, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Michael Vick, Strahan, Master P, Warren Sapp and Hines Ward.

- I think Colorado fans and the folks who cover the team are going to like Andre’ Hart a lot. He was one of the more compelling figures on the show as far as his commentary and demeanor.

- Sanders LOVES Alejandro Mata based on what was shown in the series. It’s no surprise that he was among the players that followed him from Jackson State, even though the Buffs already had a more-than-capable kicker in Cole Becker.

- The “He ain’t SWAC” comment from Eddie Robinson Jr., no relation to THE Eddie Robinson, and Sanders’ subsequent response are that much wilder in hindsight. Was it petty on Robinson’s part? Sure. But Sanders’ “Who is SWAC if I ain’t SWAC?” retort rings a little hollow when he left the league fewer than two months after saying that.

- It was brought up on the show that Jackson State had four defensive backs with 4.3 speed. That might be an exaggeration, but if he was able to get those kinds of players to an FCS school, imagine what he can pull off at a Power Five program.

- His move to Colorado is only detailed so much in the final episode. He addresses the news that he has been offered the job and after the SWAC championship victory, there's the widely-circulated video of him telling his team the news that he's leaving.

- I loved all the gratuitous cursing, mostly from coaches.

- I’d love to know what the bidding war was like between streaming services for this show. Mainly, did Sanders and company choose Amazon Prime over Netflix, Hulu and others because it has ‘Prime’ in the name?

- This sentiment was expressed in one of Sanders’ early addresses to the Colorado players, but the man really, really hates earrings, which is a little strange coming from someone who famously wore them back in his playing days. As someone who has his ears pierced (though I seldom wear earrings), I’ll have to be that much more careful about my wardrobe choices any time I wander up to Boulder now.