Colorado football coach Deion Sanders received a “very credible threat” that two people were going to try to assault him last September, among other threats he faced throughout the year, his bodyguard said in the new season of the “Coach Prime” documentary series.
Sanders’ bodyguard, Michael Rhodes, also revealed he uses nitrile gloves to handle Sanders’ mail and runs the mail through a machine to detect hazardous materials.
Before the Colorado State game Sept. 14, Rhodes even said multiple law enforcement agencies got involved to monitor his safety after receiving “multiple threats concerning people trying to do harm to Coach,” including a threat that two people “were trying to possibly tackle Coach, either before, during or after the game.”
Rhodes said he makes a practice of sending death threats to police and the FBI.
“I have to keep my head on a swivel” Rhodes said. “I have to keep my eyes open. I really have to watch the crowd, pay attention to everybody’s body language, facial expressions, hands, because everybody doesn’t love Coach. … With all of the death threats, I don’t know who is who. I’ve got one job, and that’s to make sure that Coach is good, to make sure he’s safe, so he can go out and coach the team to a victory.”
Rhodes provided these details in Season 3 of “Coach Prime,” which debuted Tuesday on Amazon Prime Video. The new series covers the 2024 Colorado football season under Sanders and runs five episodes, all of which became available to stream on Tuesday.
What else is shown in Season 3 of ‘Coach Prime?’
Among other revelations, viewers will learn that freshman offensive lineman Jordan Seaton is a yoga-practicing pescatarian, that Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter has been involved in the song selection at his coming wedding and that Sanders had choice words for game officials as his team was pelted by debris thrown from the crowd at Texas Tech.
The show is produced by Sanders’ business manager at SMAC Entertainment, which also has editorial control over the content, with input from the University of Colorado.
As a result, the series serves as a recruiting advertisement of sorts for Sanders and Colorado football, interspersed with touching human subplots, including one Colorado player’s battle with lymphoma and the criminal sentencing of another player’s father in Florida on drug-related charges.
‘That’s what this country is seeking’
It’s the kind of infomercial that other coaches would love to have for their programs but few if any others could get. On the other hand, the overall spotlight on Sanders also swings both ways, making him and his family a frequent target of criticism.
“A lot of media personalities have understood that if you just mention me, or (his son) Shedeur or Colorado or Travis or anybody, you’re gonna get attention,” Sanders says in Episode 2 of the new season. “And that’s what this country is seeking – a tremendous amount of attention. … You have your own social media, your own platforms. Even the person out there with 500 followers wants six. So whatever he or she needs to do to get that or warrant that, they’re gonna do it.”
The new season does not cover the team’s final game at the Alamo Bowl Dec. 28 − a 36-14 loss to BYU − presumably because of production deadlines. Likewise, Hunter’s Heisman win in New York Dec. 14 is shown only as a footnote in the final episode. The new season otherwise focuses on Sanders in his final season coaching his two youngest sons in college – quarterback Shedeur and safety Shilo – as well as his relationship with other players, including Hunter.
‘I don’t want to hear that bulljunk’
Colorado finished the season with a 9-4 record after finishing 4-8 during Sanders’ first season in Boulder in 2023. The Buffaloes played in front of sellout crowds in all but three of their games in 2024 and also drew the biggest-ever television audience for the Alamo Bowl (8 million).
In one game, a 41-27 win at Texas Tech in November, the crowd got so out of hand that Sanders pleaded with game officials to do something about it. Episode 5 of the new season captures the sound.
“There’s gotta be something said (to the crowd),” Sanders told the game officials during the game. “Now they throwing bottles and everything now. There’s gotta be something said.”
One of the officials then replied with his own warning to Sanders.
“One thing I was going to come and tell you, Coach, is that the next time you guys score again and your players are blowing kisses to the crowd…,” the official said.
This remark set Sanders off. While Sanders was expressing concern for his team’s safety, the game official was bringing up the behavior of Colorado players.
“Hey, we can blow what we want,” Sanders replied, raising his voice. “That ain’t got nothing to do with no throwing no bottles, man. I don’t want to hear that bulljunk. They throwing it! I don’t want to hear that. Blowing a kiss ain’t got nothing to do with that. That’s football! That’s football!”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com