Dion Sanders couldn't help but be missed at Pac12 media day

No Deion Sanders at Pac-12 Media Day proves to be another loss for a league needing wins

LAS VEGAS — On Thursday afternoon in Nashville, an exceptionally tan Lane Kiffin took to the stage at SEC Media Days and did what Nick Saban and Kirby Smart usually refuse to do: he unleashed the flamethrower, calling the current state of NIL and the transfer portal in college football “a disaster.” In the ever-sanitized fired-up coach-speak existence of most media day events, it was some must-see TV.

Among the many things the Pac-12 is missing by Deion Sanders being unable to attend here in the historically hot summer in the desert, the theater of it all is chief among them. In a city that wants to reel in the best entertainers on the planet, that plasters their smiles on billboards and uploads them onto digital marquees around The Strip, Colorado’s first-year head coach would’ve been a nice little distraction for a conference seemingly always in flux.

At 1:01 p.m. Mountain Time on Wednesday afternoon, Sanders’ personal YouTube channel, Thee Pregame Show, posted a two-and-a-half minute long video of Sanders announcing he wasn’t going to Pac-12 Media Day due to more blood clots needing to be removed from his thigh and a follow-up surgery on his left foot that has already had two toes amputated. Sanders was seated on a training table inside the Colorado football facility explaining the timing.

“This is how the devil works: He thinks if he stops my mobility, he can stop my ability,” Sanders said.

A day before Pac-12 Media Day kicked off inside Resorts World Las Vegas on Friday morning, a Deadspin writer penned a column rousing a secular portion of college football circles. There was some predictable fury, pointing to the conference boasting the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and other good quarterbacks. The headline: “Without Deion Sanders in attendance, Pac-12 Media Day might as well pack it up and go home.”

It’s both right and wrong. Media days exist for soundbites, where writers and those on radio row alike pray for someone to say anything interesting. Media days exist for outsized personas like Deion Sanders.

Had he been here, he would’ve made heads turn on the third-floor ballroom. There would’ve been a crowd of cameras. Reporters would’ve tailed him about, getting a glance at what he might do next. You would’ve heard that booming voice echo. He might’ve even worn the cowboy hat. Some might perceive all those things as shallow, as easy entertainment, something that cannot be replicated by any other coach in the conference (or the country for that matter). Hey, it is Vegas.

From that reality alone, not having Sanders center-stage here hurts. The Pac-12 needs public perception wins where it can get them.

Having Sanders’ multi-million dollar grin owning an auditorium, going off the cuff and presumably leading this evening’s “SportsCenter” with some Sanders-esque coach-preach would’ve been a victory. Right now, the college football world and fans of the soon-to-be 10 remaining institutions — once USC and UCLA bolt — await a media rights deal that has still yet to be struck.

Colorado defensive coordinator Charles Kelly, who came in place of Sanders, said he texted Sanders throughout the day Friday to check in on him. During Kelly’s time on the main stage late Friday afternoon, the media seating was fairly sparse. Had Sanders been able to attend, it presumably would’ve been a full house. Kelly addressed the absurd amount of roster turnover that has pitted Sanders in a war of words with some head coaches across the country, saying Sanders has always told the truth about how they planned on restructuring Colorado’s program. Some, like Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, are just fascinated to see how the experiment turns out.

“Coach Sanders has really shaken the tree there,” Whittingham said.

During his 45-minute window to kick off the morning, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said this was the most anticipated conference media day ever before facing a peppering of questions regarding the perceived shakiness of the state of the conference and a lack of a 2024 TV deal with five weeks to go before the start of the 2023 college football season. While sharing the stage with Pac-12 executive associate commissioner Merton Hanks and Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, Kliavkoff ended up asking the last question of the allotted time.

He asked Hanks, who won a Super Bowl with Sanders with the 1994 San Francisco 49ers, what it was like to play with Prime Time. Hanks sported his giant, shiny Super Bowl ring as he held the Pac-12 mic.

“He’s always been the guy,” Hanks said. “So people who understand being the guy, there is a pressure that comes with being the guy that stays with you. He’s been able to achieve all along the way, whether it’s been as an athlete, as a coach, as a business individual. He’s going to raise the bar, and quite frankly, bring out the best in all of our coaches because you know you’re competing against a winner on the other side — make no mistake about that.”

When provided with a window to keep Coach Prime in the conversation, Pac-12’s commissioner did it.

And that’s how his time on stage ended. While Sanders was recovering from his surgical procedures back in Colorado, there were other members of the Sanders crew in Las Vegas. Son Shedeur Sanders, who transferred from Jackson State to Colorado and is the presumed starting quarterback for the Buffaloes this year, came alongside cornerback Travis Hunter. Deion Sanders Jr., who is part of the Sanders family content creation machine, maneuvered around the hotel with a camera capturing each stop.

Shedeur isn’t Prime level yet, but on stage there were shades of his dad in some of his answers.

“Long day,” he said. “We answered the same question probably like 30 times.”

When Ashley Adamson of the Pac-12 Network asked if he saved his best answers for the main stage session, Shedeur smiled just like his old man: “I know you’ve got something cooking.”