Deion Sanders in Colorado practicing football 16 hours after surgery
Colorado coach Deion Sanders returned to Buffaloes football practice on Wednesday — just as coach Prime said he would 24 hours earlier when he announced he would undergo surgery later that day related to blood clotting issues.
video Posted by his eldest son, Deion Sanders Jr., on his YouTube channel titled “Well Off Media,” it begins Wednesday with a clip of Sanders undergoing surgery. Then, after indicating a 16-hour time jump, the video shows Sanders walking briskly, if very cautiously, through the Buffaloes’ indoor practice facility. He was offered a carriage but apparently turned it down.
Much of the eight-minute video shows clips from team practices. Sanders continues to move, and his gait seems to become more difficult as training continues. Sanders did not appear at what appeared to be the end of training, as another coach addressed the players.
A Colorado football spokesman told The Times on Wednesday afternoon that the team expects Sanders to coach the Buffaloes on Saturday during their home game against No. 22 Iowa State.
No other information was released about the surgery or Sanders’ condition.
During his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Sanders revealed that he would undergo the surgery — called an aspiration thrombectomy, which involves the left popliteal (located behind the knee) and tibial arteries — later that day. He said the surgery could take several hours.
“I’ll be fine,” Sanders said. “Thanks to prayer, I will be back tomorrow because I don’t miss training. I don’t plan on doing so.”
On Saturday, Sanders could be seen either sitting or limping on the Buffaloes’ sideline during Colorado’s 35-21 loss to Texas Christian. He did not wear a shoe on his left foot during the second half, and afterward told reporters that he was “in crazy pain.”
“I think I have more blood clots,” said Sanders, who had two toes on his left foot amputated in 2021 due to blood clotting issues, and had a blood clot removed from his right leg in 2023. “The blood isn’t getting to my legs. That’s why my legs are pulsing.”
The surgery is said to be Sanders’ 16th in the past three years. He told reporters on Tuesday that his struggle with blood clots is hereditary.
Sanders revealed this summer that his bladder was removed last May to treat a cancerous tumor.
Janet CockeriaSanders’ doctor at the University of Colorado Cancer Center told reporters at the same news conference that part of Sanders’ intestine had been reconstructed to serve as a bladder and that the procedure was successful. She added that Sanders will not need radiation or chemotherapy.
Sanders was a regular star in the NFL, playing for five teams over 14 years and winning two Super Bowl titles (with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys). The 1994 Defensive Player of the Year was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
As head coach at Jackson State from 2020 to 2022, Sanders led the Tigers to two Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and was named SWAC Coach of the Year twice. He’s in his third season in Colorado, where he’s coached such stars in 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter (now with the Jacksonville Jaguars) and his son Shedor Sanders (now with the Cleveland Browns).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.