Paul Finebaum discusses the possibility of Deion Sanders becoming Nick Saban's successor at Alabama

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum debated the possibility of Deion Sanders becoming the next Alabama head coach once Nick Saban decides to retire.

What seemed to be pure fiction at one point in time, might not be so far fetched according to the ESPN commentator. Sanders is now 2-0 at Colorado and Saban, 71, isn’t getting any younger. Of course, the Crimson Tide head coach is regularly putting his team in the CFP conversation to win national titles.

But imagine Coach Prime with the Crimson Tide. That’s what Finebaum did.

“I had a colleague ask me today, this is where we are on the morning after, who do you think the top three candidates would be if quote unquote, Nick Saban retired,” Finebaum said on the Matt Barrie Show. “And I don’t know if Prime is on that list or not. But why not?”

Barrie pondered the possibility as well, which caused Finebaum to evaluate Sanders’ star power.

“And I’m not gonna I’m not gonna get too deep into the weeds or we’re not when I was trying to think of some of the names,” Finebaum said. “I mean, they’re all just nice coaches, but none of them have the star power. I mean, quite frankly, Nick Saban doesn’t have the star power that Deion Sanders has right now.”

Barrie even mentioned Sanders could draw the eye of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and bring Coach Prime to the NFL, just because.

“I mean, you’re 100% right, Matt, and you know, there are a lot of regrets out there but you think, (here’s some) inside baseball here for a second,” Finebaum said. “College GameDay going to a campus was like a very big deal …(Big Noon Kickoff and GameDay are) both at Boulder this week for a truly unforgettable game. 

“Colorado State, I mean, you couldn’t have gotten GameDay to a one-loss Colorado State-Colorado game at any moment in history. You would have gotten laughed out of the production office.”
Essentially, Sanders is the biggest star in college football based on those comments. If Sanders is highly successful at Colorado this season or within the next few, there’s no doubt a bigger program would try and poach him.

There’s been no indication Sanders would leave Boulder, but money talks and things change. Right now, the college football world is paying attention to Colorado.

As far as Sanders in the future, maybe even with Alabama, brace yourself for Prime Time.