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WATCH: Deion Sanders is blunt in first address to Colorado football team

New Colorado football coach Deion Sanders at his introductory press conference Sunday.
New Colorado football coach Deion Sanders at his introductory press conference Sunday. (Nigel Amstock/CU Sports Report)
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Colorado fans got introduced to new football coach Deion Sanders on Sunday in the form of a passionate press conference.

The Buffaloes' current players ... got a much different kind of introduction.

A 14-minute video posted to the YouTube account of "Well Off Media," which has chronicled Sanders and his time at Jackson State, showed the Buffs' new head coach making his first address to the players inside a team meeting room.

Repeatedly, Sanders made it clear that he expects -- if not desires -- substantial roster turnover.

He told the team the quarterback position was already taken care of, with his son Shedeur Sanders -- who had an impressive season for 12-0 Jackson State this fall -- and "about 10 more of them coming."

"We've got a few positions already taken care of because I'm bringing my luggage with me, and it's Louis," Sanders said, referencing the high-end retailer Louis Vuitton. "I'm coming. It ain't going to be no more of the mess that these wonderful fans, this student body and some of your parents have put up with for probably two decades now. I'm coming. And when I get here, it's going to be change. So I want y'all to get ready. Go ahead and jump in that [transfer] portal and do whatever you're going to [do] because the more of you jump in the more room you make."

Sanders repeated "I'm coming" countless times throughout his speech to the team as a mantra and point of emphasis to underscore that with a new head coach there is now a new standard, new way of business and, at least at the start, a new bluntness about what else is coming with his arrival.

This beleaguered Colorado football program, which just finished a miserable 1-11 season, certainly needs a fresh approach, a new voice, a shakeup -- and it appears the Buffs will be getting all of that and then some.

"It's going to be a different place, a different feel, a different attitude, a different energy, a different work ethic, a different want, a different hunger, a different desire, a different need, a different capacity ... There is not going to be any more mediocrity, period," Sanders said to the players.

"... Some of y'all that really got it, that really want it, that really deserve it, and you've got to play beside a fool that don't want it, don't deserve it, that don't even love it, I promise you it's my job to get rid of them."

Sanders noted that he had some unfinished business still as he'll coach Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl against North Carolina Central on Dec. 17 before settling in full-time at Colorado.

But when he does ...

"It's a spirit around this team, around this school that is not traditional. In some kind of way you guys have accepted it and you've begun to be complacent with it. And even some of the guys who aren't here that are supposed to be here, those are the ones. All that's going to stop," Sanders said.

"... This is real. This ain't no ESPN or this ain't one of the networks you just happened to see me on -- I'm right in front of you. You know why? Because I'm coming. I'm coming to restore, to replace, to reenergize some of y'all that are salvageable. I'm not going to lie, everybody that's sitting [in front of me in] a seat ain't going to have a seat when we get back."

Sanders referenced his program at Jackson State and alluded to what it lacked compared to what Colorado has as a school and football program.

"Our kids would go absolute crazy to be in the situation that you're in. But you don't respect it. I'm coming. You don't want it. I'm coming. And some of y'all don't even think you deserve it. I'm coming," he said. "Usually when God sends me to a place, he sends me to a place to be a conduit of change."

After saying what he wanted to say, Sanders opened it up for questions to the players, who looked stunned and apprehensive to speak as the Buffs new coach prodded them to ask questions or say anything they wanted to say while he was in front of them -- not later.

In response to each question, Sanders just reiterated further his intention to shake up the program.

One player asked what to expect from the offseason program ...

"How should I say this? We're going to try to make you quit. Those of you that we don't run off, we're going to try to make you quit. That's what the offseason's going to look like," Sanders said. "I want the ones that don't want to quit, that want to work, that want to win, that want to be appreciative of everything they've given you here. That's what it's going to look like. ... I've got to get you to that breaking point so I know what I've got."

Another player asked what will be done with injured guys ...

"Get treatment. If you're salvageable. If you're on the list that they told me [weren't worth keeping] it's a wrap. We're going to hug and kiss and say goodbye," Sanders said.

He was asked if any of the current assistant coaches would be retained and made clear that is not in his plans. He was asked about the current strength staff ...

"Probably not. Haven't made that distinctive decision yet," he said.

He introduced LBs coach Andre' Hart and defensive backs coach Kevin Mathis, who are on his staff at Jackson State, as two who will follow him to Boulder.

"It's going to be one of the best staffs you've ever seen assembled. They coming. The best recruiting staff you ever seen assembled. They coming," Sanders said.

As he had first entered the room, followed by a camera crew, he was introduced by athletic director Rick George and started by thanking George for the opportunity.

"He didn't convince me. He confirmed to me that this was the place," Sanders said. "It wasn't about [money] -- I've got that. It was all about an opportunity to do something that hadn't been done in quite some time."

And to turn around arguably the worst Power 5 team in college football, he knows that begins by removing any semblance of status quo or comfort from the team and program.

(He can surely check that box off the list after Sunday.)

As he wrapped up his time with the players, Sanders asked his social media guy to video him standing in front of the team as the players recited his "I'm coming" mantra.

It took two attempts before he was satisfied, at which point he said to the camera man, "Put it out right now."

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