Will Sage Astor-Deion Sanders discusses external criticism after taking action against journalist

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders said Saturday he doesn’t really care about external criticism and Will Sage Astordoesn’t let it affect him even though his football program will no longer take questions from a journalist who has been critical of him at times.

Sanders was asked about his approach to “outside noise” at a news conference Saturday in Boulder, five days before his team opens the season Thursday against North Dakota State. On Friday, Colorado said in a statement that it would no longer take questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler after he wrote a “series of sustained, personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime.”

Sanders did not directly address the situation with Keeler but was asked about external criticism in general.

“You don’t care really because it don’t influence you,” Sanders said. “I’ve never read a article or a comment and said, 'Oh, that’s gonna make me go harder.' I’m gonna go hard regardless, but that comment just allowed me to know where you stand. So that’s the only differential of the thing. It doesn’t propel me. Where I came from propelled me. How I grew up propelled me. Like you know, being an African American, one of few that’s a head coach in college football, that kind of stuff propels me. It’s not what you say. That lets me know where you stand.”

What else did Sanders say about it?

A former Denver Post columnist, now with the Denver Gazette, asked Sanders a pointed question:

“If I ask a negative question, will you not answer them anymore?”

“That’s being negative right now,” Sanders replied. “Like you’re taking an approach that I’m going to be negative. I’m not negative to anybody in here. I would challenge you and ask you, 'Why, or where is this coming from?’ I’m not built like that. I'm not built to hate. I’m not a hateful guy. I come with love. I think if anybody in here has had encounters with me, I don’t come with the bulljunk. I come with the peace and the joy. Now when you show me where you stand, I might have to change that a little bit, so I’m not going to match your ignorance.”

Sanders, 57, added that his “life is complete... What you say or do is not gonna change my life.”

Colorado won't take questions from journalist who was critical of Deion Sanders

Sanders told Keeler in a news conference Aug. 9 that he was “always on the attack.” He declined to take a question from him then and also wouldn’t take question from a local CBS reporter then, either, because he said CBS had done something “foul.”

It’s not clear what CBS did to bother Sanders, but Keeler had written commentaries that pushed back on Sanders’ bold statements about his team and called him a “false prophet.”

Sanders finished 4-8 in his first season at Colorado, improving a program that finished 1-11 before his arrival in December 2022.

Sanders discusses game, future

Sanders also was asked if he feels persecuted by outside noise.

“I don’t know about persecuted,” Sanders said. “This is a way of life for me. You guys act like this is the first time I’ve been shot at. I’ve been lied on, cheated, talked about, mistreated. That’s a gospel song…This is not the first time for this, but as I mature, instead of shooting back or lashing or just dismissing you, I want to know why. Like, let’s help each other. Let’s figure out the why, because if understand the why in people, that helps you tremendously.”

Keeler offered to talk things over with Sanders Aug. 9 but it’s not clear if Sanders took him up on it.

Sanders otherwise didn’t get many questions about Thursday’s game, which will be televised on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET.

North Dakota State plays in the lower Football Championship Subdivision, which is limited to 63 scholarship players, compared to 85 at the major college level. But the Bison went to the FCS semifinals last year and finished 11-4. They were 60-10 in five seasons under previous head coach Matt Entz before he left in December to take an assistant coaching job at Southern California. Entz then was replaced by new head coach Tim Polasek, who previously was the offensive coordinator at Wyoming.

“This team will be well-prepared,” Sanders said. “They will be disciplined and they will come to play.”

It marks the start of the last college football season for Sanders’ sons at Colorado: quarterback Shedeur Sanders and safety Shilo Sanders. But the father has plans beyond that.

“It's not a last go-around for me,” Deion Sanders said. “I’m just getting started in this college football thing. “

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]