Deion Sanders announces NFL great Warren Sapp will join Colorado coaching staff

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders revealed that he’ll be adding a legendary former player to his coaching staff, with long-time NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp set to join after earning his degree recently.

Sapp set out to get his degree specifically so he could get into coaching, and “Coach Prime” couldn’t be more proud of him.

“We know him other than how the world knew him, and you talk about a huge Teddy bear,” Sanders said on the Rich Eisen Show. “You talking about a huge Teddy bear. He has this huge vibrato that’s going to scare you off if you allow him to, but deep down you don’t even have to go that deep, he’s a Teddy bear.

“And to see him go get his diploma, because I know what he wants to do, he wants to coach on this staff and he wants to be a part of this staff and he is going to be a part of this staff.”

Warren Sapp has been discussing joining Sanders’ staff for quite some time now, with the idea floated as early as September.

First, though, Sapp had to get that degree. Now that he’s done that, the path is clear for him to link up with Sanders and continue to tutor young college football players.

Sanders praised how relatable Warren Sapp is to the players.

“But he is unbelievable. The kids love him. Oh my God, they love him,” Sanders said. “When they just see him, when the D-linemen see him they light up like a Christmas tree. And one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen is first, after practice one day, he just came here to kick it and came here to see me, and he was in the hot tub because his body’s still banged up as well. At first it was one guy. Looked down there 30 minutes later you’ve got the whole defensive line in the hot tub and he’s holding court.

“You know how he’s animated like John Madden, he’s doing all these antics, and he has captivated all their attention and they’re hanging onto every word. He has so much to give, man. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see him on a daily basis.”

Though Sapp doesn’t have much coaching experience, his resume as a player should earn him the immediate respect of every player in the room.

Sapp was the No. 12 overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft out of Miami and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers through the 2003 season. He played the last four years of his career with the then-Oakland Raiders.

A Super Bowl champion (XXXVII), Sapp was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, a four-time First-Team All-Pro, twice named to the Second-Team, a seven-time Pro Bowler and named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1990s and 2000s.

In 198 games, Sapp had 573 tackles, 96.5 sacks, 19 forced fumbles, four interceptions and three defensive touchdowns. Sapp was named to the 2013 class in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Not only that, Sapp was a college legend as well, winning the 1991 national championship with Miami and was a unanimous All-American in 1994.