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Deion Sanders Accuses Virginia of Tampering With Colorado Players

Matthew Newton|
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Just when it seemed nothing else could surprise us about this chaotic era of college athletics we find ourselves in, we now live in a universe where Deion Sanders is taking public shots at the Virginia football program.

Yep, you read that right. Deion Sanders. Coach Prime. The only athlete to play in a Super Bowl and the World Series. Now the head coach of the Colorado football program. And he has a problem with the University of Virginia football team.

What is that problem, exactly? Well, as with everything else these days in college football, it has to do with the unmitigated mess that has resulted from the combination of unregulated NIL funding and unrestricted transfer portal movement. Despite the mind-boggling lack of rules governing the college football offseason, Sanders has just accused Tony Elliott and the UVA football program of breaking those rules by tampering - enticing a player from another school with NIL offers before that player has officially entered the transfer portal.

At a practice at Colorado on Thursday, Deion Sanders, knowing that the cameras were rolling, called out Virginia for having offered one of his players "a bag", otherwise known as a large sum of NIL money, to enter the portal and come to UVA. Sanders asked that player, junior defensive back Carter Stoutmire, to confirm the name of the school which had offered him the money in front of the entire Colorado team and then proceeded to look into the camera and speak directly to Virginia, saying, "Virginia, you gotta stop."

Sanders then went on to say he had "let you have one", seeming to imply that Virginia had tampered successfully with another one of his players previously.

You can watch the video clip of Deion Sanders calling out Virginia in the Tweet below, but we've gone ahead and put a brief transcript of it here as well:

Deion Sanders: "Carter got offered a bag. Where Carter at? What's the school? What's the school that offered you the bag?"

Carter Stoutmire: "Virginia"

Sanders: "Virginia. Virginia. Where the camera at? Virginia, you gotta stop. I let you have one. I ain't say nothing about it. Come on now. Come on. We let you have one. I ain't say nothing about it."

Now, we can only speculate as to the actual facts of this particular situation, but here's what seems to be implied by this very passionate accusation against Virginia by Deion Sanders.

According to Sanders, UVA tampered, somewhat successfully it seems given Sanders saying "We let you have one", with a Colorado player and convinced him to enter the transfer portal. We do not know who that player is, but given Virginia's roster needs, we could guess it could be safety Myles Slusher, running back Isaiah Augustave, or maybe tight end Sam Hart, each of whom entered the transfer portal within the first couple of days of the spring window. Sanders is insinuating that one of those players was contacted by Virginia with an NIL offer before the portal opened.

With Sanders choosing to go public with his complaints, it seems he has drawn the line at Virginia's unsuccessful and unproven attempt to get another Colorado player, Carter Stoutmire, to enter the portal as well. If we see a Colorado transfer commit to Virginia in the coming days, then maybe there is some validity to Sanders's claims. But even then, it's still an absurd situation made all the more astounding by Sanders choosing to lodge these grievances publicly on social media.

While Tony Elliott has yet to comment on this fresh attack, and it's unlikely a response will ever come, some members of his Virginia coaching staff, including wide receivers coach Adam Mims and offensive line coach Terry Heffernan, have taken it upon themselves to address the Sanders video with some, let's just call them 'interesting' posts on social media. See for yourself:

Without legitimizing this story anymore than we already have, it's important to note that with the accelerated timelines during which players are entering the transfer portal and almost immediately announcing their commitments to new schools, tampering is very much commonplace in college football right now. It's obvious that if Virginia was in fact tampering, that would likely make the Cavaliers only part of the vast majority of programs that are bending the rules. But since we're a few days into the spring transfer window already and UVA has yet to land a transfer commit, there seems to be not much actual evidence to support these flimsy, yet furious allegations by Deion Sanders.

At any rate, this offseason drama is great for entertainment, especially when the season is still more than four months away. Is it too late for Colorado and Virginia to schedule a game with each other this season?

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Matt Newton
MATTHEW NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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