Match Made In Heaven: Coach Prime Florida State
The Florida State Seminoles football season has been beyond bad, it's been a tragedy. The team is currently 1-8, and play Charleston Southern on Saturday. They could lose that game, and will definitely lose the last game of the season against the Florida Gators. Head coach Mike Norvell is not only on the hot seat, he's on his way out the door.
What could help the alumni give Norvell the final push, could be a coaching commitment from a former standout player. Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders has been the toast of Boulder, leading the Colorado Buffaloes to an impressive 7-2 record, with the college football playoff in his sights. Regardless of how his season ends, he will no longer be able to coach his son Shedeur (unless Coach Prime goes pro too).
Florida State would be crazy not to be on the phone with Prime as this is being written. ESPN has reported that the Seminoles lost four star quarterback Tramell Jones, who decommitted on Thursday. This is the sixth recruit form the 2025 class to decommit. The school has also lost Myron Charles, Javion Hilson, Malik Clark, Daylon McCutheon, and CJ Wiley.
Florida State is in serious trouble, since high school students aren't interested in playing ball in Tallahassee, and it's highly unlikely FSU can attract anyone in the transfer pool. They need a coach who can recruit at the high school level, and the college level. They need Coach Prime.
Sanders was a first team All-American as a junior (1987) and senior (1988), and won the Jim Thorpe award his senior year. He had 14 career interceptions for the Seminoles, including three that he took to the house. He also returned three punts for touchdowns in his collegiate career, before the Atlanta Falcons selected him fifth overall in the 1989 NFL Draft. In 2011, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
As a college coach, Sanders led Jackson State to SWAC championships in back-to-back years (2020, 2021). He took over the Colorado job in 2022, and took a 1-11 team to 4-8 in his first season. This season he is in the hunt for a playoff birth, and possibly a national championship.
With his son off to the NFL, he may look to coach at a bigger program from a power conference. Florida State presents a golden opportunity. Prime could replenish the 2025 class, and future classes with four and five star high school players, as well as bring in the most desirable players in the transfer pool. Given the resources he would have at FSU, he could have them as conference champs, and in the playoff in his first season there. A Coach Prime Florida State marriage would be a match made in heaven.