Coach Prime Faces Criticism Again for Transfer Portal Actions

Adapted from “Crain & Co.,” May 1, 2024.

Jake Crain: Deion Sanders is catching heat once again because he told a player he needed to transfer during the off season. Then the player didn’t. Now, that player is saying Prime never gave him a chance during the spring.

Nobody’s forcing anybody to play. I remember when coaches used to gray shirt and blue shirt guys just to be able to have extra guys on the roster and all of a sudden players got cut. I didn’t see anybody crying when Nick Saban was doing that like they’re doing with Deion Sanders. I’m not the biggest Deion Sanders fan in the world, but Xavier Smith transferred from Colorado to Austin Peay. It’s not like he transferred to another Power Five or somewhere like that.

I don’t know Xavier Smith, but, buddy, you better toughen your ass up or this world is going to chew you up and spit you out like you were never there.

Blain Crain: Where does he think he is? I don’t even know how he made it to this point. Did he get babied through middle and high school? Deion Sanders is doing him a favor. Sometimes, back in the day, you wouldn’t even get this favor; you wouldn’t even get talked to. You would just slowly walk your way through maybe two years, and then go.

If you’re not good enough and he knows it, he’s giving you an outlet to go play the sport that you love. Smith should be saying, “Thanks for telling me this. Now, I don’t have to waste two years working my ass off when I know I’m not good enough to make it.” If anything, this is a good thing from Deion Sanders, and it is a coach’s job to know the finesse of both ways: know how to beat a guy down, but also bring him up. Hell on the field and heaven off of it. It’s a good mix and the best one knows how to do it.

But how many times has Nick Saban said this to a guy? How many times has Kirby Smart said this to a guy? It’s not as blown up, obviously because it’s not Deion Sanders, but I don’t think this is a bad look from Deion whatsoever.

Jake Crain: I don’t think it is at all. Now, what Shedeur said is a totally different situation. He was defending his dad and put on social media that he basically couldn’t even remember Smith, and he was mid at best.

Listen, just because you think something doesn’t mean you should tweet it. All I heard last week was Spencer Rattler dropped to the fifth round of the draft because of a documentary that came out when he was 17. Well, if you’re an NFL scout, I want y’all to keep that same energy with Shedeur Sanders, with him coming out and saying this about another player.

Now, it’s probably the truth, but it’s a bad business decision. If I’m somebody who’s thinking about drafting Shedeur Sanders, I know he’s talented, but I’m worried about the people around him who are facilitating him and giving him business advice because this was just a bad strategy.

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Blain Crain: That’s the Caleb Williams effect. How much does your talent outweigh your attitude?

David Cone: That’s a question as old as time when it comes to guys who’ve had a lot of success in the sports arena, especially when you’re talking about paying them tens of millions of dollars to go to the professional level.

Another thing to consider when a coach tells a guy he’s not playing well enough and should transfer, a lot of times that is just motivation to get them to play better. Oftentimes, a coach will say that, not because they want the player to actually transfer and leave, but because they’re going to do whatever they can to make that player understand he’s not performing. They’ll stop saying those things when he does start performing up to the standard they’re trying to set, especially as a new coach and a new place.

Jake Crain: Some people accuse me of bias here, but I think Bruce Pearl has one of the best quotes when it comes to this. He tells his own players, “It’s my job to out recruit you. It’s my job to keep recruiting better and better players.” It’s a player who knows that up front with a coach who says, “You’re not good enough to play here. I think if you really want an opportunity to play and to have an impact, you probably need to transfer somewhere else. I’m not going to tell you where, but I’ll help you and do as much as I can to get you to a place where you can play.” As opposed to telling a player, “Hey, I know how good you are. I know how good you can be. But if you don’t start performing to the level and reaching your potential, then there’s not going to be a spot for you here eventually.” To me, there are nuanced ways to handle it, and Prime can be a little bit brash, but, at the end of the day, I would much rather have a coach that tells me I probably need to transfer as opposed to telling me I’m good enough just so the coach has a good third stringer they don’t have to give a bunch of practice reps.  I’ve seen coaches do that too. At least Prime is taking the high road in that sense.

David Cone: There are multiple things to consider, especially when you’re not the starting player, including what school would be best. Luckily, I was fortunate to play for a lot of great coaches who I felt like had my back as a person, but their job also depends on having successful football players who win football games.

And everyone grew up in a hometown where there was a guy who was the recreational coach of a baseball or football team who was a really great athlete himself. But he had a son, and he wanted to coach his son. He wanted his son to be the starting quarterback, or he wanted his son to be the starting pitcher. He didn’t really care about the other players on the team. He may not have known their name. And guess what? In five years, when his kid’s not playing rec league anymore because he’s moved on to middle school or high school, he’s not a little league coach anymore.

I think that’s Deion Sanders, just on a seismic scale right now. His kids are going to go to the NFL. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Deion Sanders just started coaching college football randomly right when his kids got a chance to play. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he will coach for a long time, but they won one game before he got there.

A large part of Deion Sanders’ responsibility involves resetting the culture. I don’t care for the way he goes about a lot of things in doing that. But at the same time, they have to get going now.

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Jake Crain is co-host of Crain & Company, the Daily Wire’s sports show hosted by former athletes and coaches Jake Crain, Blain Crain, and David Cone. Follow him: @JakeCrain_

Blain Crain is co-host of Crain & Company at The Daily Wire and a former wide receiver for Western Colorado University. Follow Blain: @Blain_Crain

David Cone is a co-host and producer of the Daily Wire’s sports show Crain & Company, as well as a contributor to Morning Wire. David is also a former quarterback for the University of Michigan. Follow him: @davidadamcone

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.