Deion Sanders is one of the most present, visible, and energetic figures in college football today. And perhaps ever. Even during the offseason, Coach Prime has been known to dominate headlines. But not this year.
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This year, he’s been low-key as he dealt with a serious health issue for much of the offseason, an offseason that was supposed to be the happiest time of his life. One of his sons got drafted into the NFL (Shedeur Sanders), and the other signed onto an NFL team as a UDFA (Shilo Sanders). Instead, he had to focus on his biggest battle yet: cancer.
It had been reported several times over the past few months that Sanders was dealing with a significant health issue. He would post regularly about how much his family was doing for him and how they kept his spirits up during this difficult time.
During his first presser in some time on Monday, Coach Prime revealed that he had been battling bladder cancer. And he won. When asked if he would keep coaching, he was adamant.
“The decision I made and the surgery I chose was based on not just family. It was based on football. Based on- I didn’t wanna be going weekly to the hospital when I know I got practices,” Sanders said.
“So, football is in there. My faith is number one. Football is somewhere down the line, somewhere behind family and all of that, but my faith is definitely number one. So I never second-guessed that. And we here man. Too blessed to be stressed.”
Even when talking about a life-threatening surgery he had to go through, Neon Deion is still pumping out smooth one-liners. He really is one-of-one.
Sanders underwent a procedure to remove his cancerous bladder recently. His doctors announced that the surgery had been a success, and that Coach Prime was “cured.”
Sanders has been itching to get back to his Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder and has been extremely appreciative of all the support he’s gotten. He posted this on June 11:
“Wow, I am truly blessed for the abundance of well wishes, for all the thoughts and all of the prayers. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I can assure you all that everything is OKAY and will continue to be so. God got me like no other. I have so much more work to do to Glorify God so please believe God got me…“
Wow, I am truly blessed for the abundance of well wishes, for all the thoughts and all of the prayers. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! 🙏🏾
I can assure you all that everything is OKAY and will continue to be so. God got me like no other. I have so much more work to do to Glorify…
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) June 11, 2025
In true Deion Sanders form, mere days after surgery to remove one of his major organs and avoid a prolonged battle with cancer, he was already cracking jokes about his condition. After saying that he expects to be able to coach his Buffaloes in the 2025 season during his press conference on Monday, he joked that he might need a “porta-potty on the sideline” moving forward.
That joke and his ability to make light of this situation are all the more impressive, considering how serious the surgery was. It was so serious, in fact, that Sanders actually had to write up a will in the unlikely case that something went wrong in the surgery.
The mindset one must be in to write something like that up, we can’t even imagine. It’s beyond exciting and encouraging to see Neon Deion back to his old upbeat, smiley ways.
