Chip Kelly on Deion Sanders: 'I think he's great for college football'

UCLA and Colorado will square off this weekend in Boulder as Deion Sanders will host Chip Kelly and the Bruins in a primetime matchup airing on ABC.

It’s the first time the two head coaches have ever squared off, but not the first time they’ve crossed paths, as Kelly pulled back the curtain on a previous encounter with Sanders and gave the first-year Colorado head coach some high praise.

“Yeah I know him, actually he brought Shedeur [Sanders] to camp, so we had Shedeur here at camp a couple years ago,” Kelly said. “I think he’s great, I think he’s done an unbelievable job there. I think he’s great for college football, I think the attention and the buzz that he’s brought to this game.”

There’s no doubt that Sanders put Colorado on an entirely different platform upon his arrival with more eyeballs than ever before have seemed to be on the program this season.

It all started with their impressive 3-0 start to the season after the Buffaloes finished last season with just one win prior to Sanders taking over the program. From a television viewership standpoint, they’ve broken numerous records already this season, even dominating the social media space when they became just the fourth program in college football to reach 1 million followers on Instagram.

But even outside of the massive spotlight Sanders has placed upon Boulder and the numerous off-the-field escapades that have impacted their program, Kelly also respects Sanders’ coaching ability and philosophy, which he shared in insightful fashion.

“I also admire him. He’s a little bit old-school in terms of his approach, in terms of how he does things and I think it’s the same way he was when he was a player,” Kelly explained. “He had a tremendous amount of talent, but he’s got an unbelievable work ethic in terms of what he does, and how he performs, and what he puts into it and I think that’s what he’s asking from his players and that’s what he’s getting from his players. So it’s really impressive what he’s doing.”

They hype surrounding Colorado has definitely taken the attention away from Sanders’ ability as a head coach for the first time at the FBS level. But his coaching abilities will definitely be tested this weekend as they face a UCLA team that boasts a menacing defense that ranks atop the Pac-12 in yards allowed and points allowed this season.

Colorado and UCLA will kick off this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET in a game airing on ABC.