Deion Sanders shares his take on why people dislike him

The 2023 college football season had many twists and turns and various points of interest. One of them that was undeniable was the impact Deion Sanders is having on the college game.

Love him or hate him, Sanders’ unique transfer portal strategy and his out front leadership style certainly inspired a lot of opinions.

Many of them unfavorable.

“Because I’m a confident Black man,” Sanders told ESPN’s Robert Griffin III, when asked why he engenders so much hatred.

“First of all, they don’t know what humility is, because I’m a truly humble guy when it comes to what I feel like my source of strength is, it’s from the Lord. I’m not going saying I, I, I… I say I believe, but that’s about it. But I’m always trying to give a opportunity or a platform for my next brother, my next man, for my next person.”

Sanders definitely provided opportunities to a lot of players looking to move up to a higher level, taking many of his former Jackson State standouts with him to Colorado. He also used the transfer portal liberally to fill in gaps.

All of that made him an experiment to watch, and some took it past just watching to vocalizing their strong opinions on Sanders.

“Hate is so much easier to disperse than love,” Deion Sanders said. “Love will get you hurt. And people have been hurt, they’ve been battered, they’ve been bruised. And love, they’d rather spew hate. I don’t subscribe to that.”

Sanders believes some of the hate is simply because he’s so successful at every turn. It’s easy to hate on someone who is achieving plenty.

“And also, RG, they’ve never seen me down,” Deion Sanders said. “They’ve seen me in the first quarter in my life, I was Primetime. The second quarter of my life I went to television and this, I was just Prime. Now in the third quarter of my life I’m Coach Prime.

“And they like, ‘This negro still, when is he going to go? How many quarters does he get? Isn’t this game over? Isn’t this game supposed to be over for him? Now his kid, I’ve got to put up with the kid stunting and holding. I’ve got to put up with the darned shades, I’ve got to put up with all of this? When is he going to go?’ I’m built for this, baby. I’m built to last. So that’s one of the things, and I do it unapologetically, man.”

Whatever the source of the hate, Deion Sanders has used it to his advantage. He views it as a sort of competition against the hate, of succeeding even in the face of adversity.

“I don’t subscribe to being happy and elated that you let me,” Sanders said. “No, I kicked the door in. You didn’t let me in, I took it. I took it. Then I’m going to crack the door and I’m going to let everybody (in). That’s just how I move. I love people. I love to see you exercise your gifts. And they don’t even know how to deal with it. They don’t know how to deal with it. They don’t know how to deal with your gifts.”