Colorado football coach Deion Sanders spent a portion of his weekly news conference Tuesday defending his offensive coordinator Brennan Marion as Sanders himself has faced questions about his job security in another season turned sour for the Buffaloes.
Sanders is preparing his team to face No. 16 Houston (7-2) on Friday night at home after starting the season 3-6. Currently, the Buffaloes rank 123rd out of 138 major conference teams in scoring offense with 19.8 points per game. In 2023 and 2024, Sanders changed play-callers during the season in an attempt to revive his offense.
Will he consider doing that again with Marion, the team’s current play-caller?
“No,” Sanders said.
After another question about Marion, Sanders made himself clear.
“I love
Brennan,” Sanders said. “I respect the heck out of him. Some things we may just have to do a little different.”
Then when a reporter brought up Marion’s previous scoring average before getting hired at Colorado, Sanders replied with his own question:
“Is this ‘Killing Brennan Day’ today?” Sanders asked.
Deion Sanders says 'we ain't thinking about no offseason'
Marion is in his first year as Colorado’s offensive coordinator after Sanders let go of last year’s offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur. Marion and his Go-Go offense came to Boulder with high expectations and a history of success, having averaged at least 33 points per game since 2023, when he was offensive coordinator at UNLV.
Marion hasn’t been put in front of reporters to answer questions since he got defensive about his team’s struggles in the running game Oct. 14.
“I’m gonna tell you what I did the other day,” Sanders said of his team’s scoring issues. “I walked into the room. I put in (on display) how many points we score a game and how many we give up. And I’m saying, This don’t work.’ Right? I gotta do better. I gotta do better. It don’t work. The formula don’t work. When you’re giving up this and you’re scoring that, it don’t work. It don’t equate.”
Sanders said he has “confidence in Brennan” and every other coach in the locker room. A reporter then started to ask Sanders if this is something to work on in the offseason.
“We ain’t thinking about no offseason right now man,” Sanders said. “We thinking about day by day, play by play, game by game.”
Deion Sanders playing safety: 'You don't give a darn about me'
After several surgeries in recent years — and despite having only eight toes — Deion Sanders recently has been back in action at Colorado as a scout-team safety in team practices.
Another reporter asked him about how much better Sanders feels physically than a year ago, when he had another surgery to fix blood clots.
“This ain’t got nothing to do with me, man,” Sanders said. “Man, when I talk about me, you guys, you know, you harp on it. Now you want to talk about me. You know you don’t give a darn about me, man.”
The reporter said he does.
“No, you don’t,” Sanders replied with a laugh. “So I’m happy to help the team. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’m really out there just keeping life in the scout team.”
Sanders said he has fun doing it. “And I’m getting my cardio in as well,” he said.
His players admire it.
“It’s definitely great to get him out there,” Colorado receiver DeAndre Moore said. “I think anytime you get your coach, let alone a Hall of Fame coach, to come out there and give you a look, it kind of lightens the mood."
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders defends Brennan Marion, but admits Colorado’s formula ‘don’t work’
