Deion Sanders returns to Colorado after health issue: ‘Back and feeling great’

Colorado coach Deion Sanders has returned to campus in Boulder, according to a video posted by Well Off Media, a YouTube channel run by his oldest son, Deion Sanders Jr.

Sanders Jr. posted a video on Friday showing his father walking through the facility and into the coaches’ meeting room with a caption “Staff Meeting.”

“You can come in if you want,” Sanders says in the video.

“Back and feeling great!” he posted on X earlier in the day.

Since leaving Boulder a few days after Colorado’s April 19 spring game, Sanders has spent most of the last three months on his ranch in Canton, Texas, a city outside Dallas.

Sanders has been dealing with an unspecified health issue and is expected to address the media alongside his medical team in Boulder on Monday, according to an announcement Colorado made Friday. This summer, Sanders referenced on a podcast that he’d lost 14 pounds during the health episode.

He declined to elaborate on his health when asked by The Athletic at Big 12 Media Days earlier this month.

“I’m not here to talk about my health,” Sanders said. “I’m here to talk about my team.”

Sanders has said multiple times during his absence that he would inform the public of his health situation at some point in the future.

Colorado athletic director Rick George told The Athletic on July 9 that Sanders would be returning to campus “in a week or two, probably.” George said he had no problem with Sanders’ physical absence and that the two have been in constant contact since he’s been away. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark checked in on Sanders’ health daily, Sanders said.

Sanders wasn’t present on campus during a five-week recruiting period this offseason, wasn’t present for a series of camps and canceled a scheduled speaking engagement in Florida in June.

After his appearance at media days, Sanders said in a Well Off Media video that he was leaving on a private plane to shoot a commercial. Earlier this month, he also filmed a commercial for Aflac at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Before arriving in Boulder, Sanders first stopped in Tampa, Fla. to watch his son and former CU player Shilo Sanders practice. The 25-year-old defensive back signed with the Buccaneers in April as an undrafted free agent.

Throughout his absence, Sanders was in daily contact with his staff, a person briefed on the situation told The Athletic.

Sanders has a history of blood clot issues, and in 2021, had two toes amputated. In 2023, he had surgery to relieve the clots that kept him from attending Pac-12 media days and spent most of that offseason in pain and limping before reaching his stated goal of running out on the field with his team to begin the season. It’s unclear if his current health issue is related to his past issues with clots.

Sanders Jr. posted a video earlier this week announcing his and his father’s plans to leave the ranch in Canton and return to Boulder.

“It’s not even about being here. It’s the battle that was fought. It’s the battle that was fought and won here,” Sanders Jr. tells the camera in the video. “That’s the main important thing. Boy didn’t leave the house for two months.”

(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)