Steve Young recently gave high praise to Deion Sanders, who will coach against Young’s alma mater on Saturday.
Young discussed his former San Francisco 49ers teammate during his appearance on the “Dan Patrick Show” on Monday, calling him “the best.”
“When he joined the 49ers, he turned to me, he grabbed me early, said, ‘Look, Steve, what I want you to know is that I’m an amazing teammate. In the locker room, I do my prep. I’m ready to play. You’ll never doubt me. The rest of it? Just get some popcorn and watch the parade, bro, because it’s a good one,’” Young said.
Sanders lived up to that statement, according to Young.
“He was exactly right. He was always ready to play. He was a great teammate. He was great in the locker room, and there was a parade, man, and we just kind of watched it. It was fun,” he said.
Young said Sanders had the ability to entertain while he was on the field.
“You talk about entertainment, he was that good that he could be great and entertain the whole way. That’s not easy to do,” Young said.
Steve Young praises Deion Sanders
Patrick then asked Young if Sanders could have been a Hall of Fame receiver.
“Oh yeah, for sure. No question,” Young said.
Sanders, a shutdown corner who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, also lined up occasionally at receiver, recording 784 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 60 receptions, per the Hall of Fame.
“He did so much work on the offense,” Young said. “He did a lot of prep work to be useful if needed, you know what I mean. I loved that … he’s like just, ‘Throw it. Like, don’t worry. Just drop back and rip it and then I’ll take care of the rest.’ I believed him, man. I believed that it was possible.”
He added, “He was one of the rare guys that defied your eye.”
As a quarterback, Young said he had to be aware of a corner’s abilities, speed and “the minute nature of how people moved.” He had to know “exactly what was happening on the field and who could do what.”
Sanders often defied that, the Hall of Fame quarterback said.
“Deion was different. He would shock you. You’re like, ‘Wait, you’re not — you can’t move that way. It’s not possible.’ There was a time he was with Atlanta early on, I was like, ‘I’m just not going over there’ because I can’t gauge him. It was like something I couldn’t get my handle on because it was his speed was so incredible,” he said.
Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes host BYU on Saturday at Folsom Field in a rematch of last season’s Alamo Bowl, which BYU won 36-14.