Deion Sanders Shares Blunt One-Word Response to Play-Calling Question

Deion Sanders faces fresh questions about the Colorado Buffaloes' play-calling, with past midseason switches adding weight to his latest response.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches the Buffaloes face Arizona State in Tempe. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Deion Sanders rarely uses one word when 50 will do, so when the Colorado Buffaloes coach kept an answer to a single syllable Tuesday, the message came through loud and clear.

Asked during his weekly press conference whether there had been any consideration to changing play-callers on offense, Sanders didn't hesitate.

Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion coaches Sacramento State before joining the Buffaloes | Samantha Laurey / Argus Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"No," Sanders said.

On the surface, the answer looks like simple loyalty to offensive coordinator Brennan Marion. Dig a little deeper, though, and it reads more like a break from habit, since Sanders has swapped play-callers in two of his previous three seasons, both times with November knocking on the door.

Sean Lewis lost the call sheet in 2023

Colorado sat at 4-4 after a 28-16 loss at UCLA when Sanders took play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Sean Lewis and handed them to analyst Pat Shurmur, a former NFL head coach. The Buffaloes lost 26-19 to No. 16 Oregon State in Shurmur's debut, and Sanders stood by the decision afterward.

"We just needed to try something else at the time, and that's what we did," Sanders said after the loss. "I don't look back on it. I don't second-guess myself whatsoever, because it's more to it than what you may know."

Oct 7, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Colorado Buffaloes offensive coordinator Sean Lewis against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

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Pat Shurmur met the same fate in 2025

Shurmur eventually became the offensive coordinator, only to lose the play sheet himself after a 53-7 loss at Utah on Oct. 25, 2025. Tight ends coach Brett Bartolone, who ran Sanders' offense at Jackson State, called plays the following week without any announcement, and Sanders later hinted at the move.

"I might have already made changes, and you don't know," Sanders said in November 2025. "I don't blow the whistles and make major announcements."

Brennan Marion keeps the keys this time

As fate would have it, Colorado is 3-6 and 1-5 in the Big 12 right now, the same marks the Buffaloes carried a year ago after that quiet switch. The offense hasn't given Sanders much cover either, averaging a Big 12-low 19.8 points per game. History says points decide the Buffaloes' fate under Sanders, since Colorado went 13-3 when scoring 30 or more across his first three seasons and 3-18 when it didn't. The 2026 team has reached 30 only once, in a 52-21 win over FCS Weber State.

Arizona State Julian Hugo (98) rushes Colorado quarterback Isaac Wilson (16) during a game at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, on Nov. 7, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Marion's price tag tells part of the story behind the loyalty. Colorado pays him $1.5 million a year through Jan. 31, 2028, nearly double Shurmur's $850,000 salary, so pulling the plug nine games into a two-year deal would be a tough pill to swallow for an athletic department that projected a $27 million fiscal 2026 deficit and will not report final figures until January 2027.

When the Marion questions kept coming Tuesday, Sanders asked the room, "Is this Killing Brennan Day, today?" He then pointed the finger back at himself when the conversation turned to the offseason.

"I know what you're getting at, and I applaud it, but nah. I love the job the coordinators are doing. I gotta do better," Sanders said.

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