Deion Sanders adjusts to coaching Colorado without sons Shedeur and Shilo

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Deion Sanders attempted to play it cool about not coaching his kids — Shedeur and Shilo — this season.

“It's easy,” the Colorado coach said in front of a room full of Buffaloes fans at a kickoff luncheon. “Especially not having Shilo get on my last nerve.”

There were laughs from the audience before he quickly backtracked.

“It's not easy,” Sanders said.

Not having a Sanders on the field is a rather new experience for the proud father/coach. He's trying to take the next step at Colorado with a new QB trying to fill Shedeur's shoes, a new safety replacing Shilo and a new, well, he's going to need basically a pair of players to take over for Travis Hunter, the talented two-way Heisman Trophy winner.

At quarterback, it's either going to be Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter or highly touted freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis.

“I feel like, wholeheartedly, this is a better football team,” said Sanders, whose team went 9-4 last season and earned an invitation to the Alamo Bowl.

Sanders is just getting to know some of his players after spending time away from the team this summer as he went through treatment for bladder cancer. While away, he relied on the experience of his veteran coaches, which includes defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, offensive boss Pat Shurmur and Pro Football Hall of Famers Warren Sapp and Marshall Faulk. Former NFL quarterback/offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich has also been mentoring the signal callers.

“I feel like our staff gets better and better and better every year,” Sanders said. “I feel like the roster gets better and better and better every year.”

Sanders' goal this season is similar to a year ago — earn 100-year-old super-fan Peggy Coppom a bowl appearance.

This time, with a caveat.

"We want to get Miss Peggy to a bowl game — and win,” Sanders said.

Salter and Lewis have their own styles. Salter is a run-pass threat who's been responsible for 66 TDs over the past two seasons.

Lewis, who doesn't turn 18 until September, threw for 11,010 yards over his career at Carrollton High School in Georgia. He also had 144 TD passes.

“It’s definitely been good just to have two guys in that room with that amount of talent level,” wideout Omarion Miller said.

They will be protected by a line that includes left tackle Jordan Seaton, who's a first-team All-Big 12 preseason pick. Miller leads a deep pool of receivers and Dallan Hayden hopes to ignite a rushing attack that averaged 65.2 yards per game, which was the worst among FBS teams.

Colorado had more than two dozen players earn NFL roster spots in training camp, including 12 rookies.

“That’s another recruiting tool,” Sanders said.

The Buffaloes sold out of season tickets for a third straight year — and for only their 11th time in history.

There’s been quite an economic impact, too, with the Visit Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau reporting that Colorado’s six home football games last season brought $93.9 million in direct economic impact and $146.5 million in total regional economic impact.

All the national exposure is paying dividends with enrollment at Colorado reaching record highs this fall along with student retention. In addition, the enrollment of Black students is up 7.9% from a year ago.

The Buffaloes start the season by playing four of their first five games at Folsom Field, including the opener on Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech. The Buffaloes and the Yellow Jackets split the 1990 national title. They've never met on the football field.

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter, left, hands off the ball to running back Micah Welch during NCAA college football practice, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Boulder, Colo.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders directs players during an NCAA college football practice Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Boulder, Colo.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party. Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.

“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”

Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.

In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.

Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.

“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”

The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right.

Reform, which only has a handful of lawmakers in the House of Commons, is tipped to make a major breakthrough in an array of elections this May, including those to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, at the expense of both the Conservatives and Labour.

Jenrick, who continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform to unite the right in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.

Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose favorability ratings have fallen sharply since the general election following a series of missteps, questioned why it took Badenoch “so long” to sack Jenrick given all the speculation that he was looking to either challenge her or to defect to Reform.

Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.

Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.

However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks, particularly during her weekly questioning of Starmer, in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.

The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the modern party was created nearly 200 years ago.

Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)