Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes beat FCS school North Dakota State on Thursday in their season opener. Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter both had huge games with Sanders throwing for 445 yards and four touchdowns while Hunter played the entire game at cornerback and had 132 yards and three touchdown catches on offense.
The hype quickly reached 2023 levels with some wondering how high in the draft the players would go next year. This, of course, is nothing new. Deion Sanders previously said that Hunter and his eldest son would both go in the top four of the 2025 NFL draft earlier this year.
While Sanders originally said this on a podcast appearance in March, Barstool Sports reposted it on social media on Friday where people again marveled at his claims.
“There’s certain cities that ain’t gonna happen… It’s gonna be an Eli.”
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 30, 2024
-Coach Prime on Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter entering the NFL Draft @mworthofgame pic.twitter.com/vGx1YPdFY2
"Top four," said Sanders. "Anywhere from one through four. One of them is going to be one. And the later one will not go behind four. Now, all this is subjective becuase I know where I want—kind of want them to go. And let's not forget Shiloh, okay? But I know where I want them to go. So there's certain cities that ain't going to happen. It's going to be, sorry, it's going to be an Eli."
Deion references the most prominent modern example of this with Archie Manning not wanting Eli Manning to play in San Diego two decades ago. LaVar Ball did something similar by willing Lonzo Ball onto the Los Angeles Lakers a few years ago.
But the truly wild part about this is that Deion is not just trying to determine where his own son plays, but Hunter, who is definitely not his son. There's obviously a connection as he recruited him to Jackson State and then got him to follow him to Boulder.
Trying to affect when and where he gets drafted? That's on a whole other level.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Deion Sanders Says Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter Will Pull an ‘Eli’ in Resurfaced Clip.
