Deion Sanders, Colorado's 'Florida boys' returning home as heavy underdogs at Central Florida

Deion Sanders is going home this week.

So is Travis Hunter, Colorado football's two-way superstar.

But a possible hurricane is headed for their home state of Florida later this week, forcing the Colorado Buffaloes to leave Wednesday instead of Thursday for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. ET game against Central Florida, in Orlando. Rain is forecast for this weekend, too, as the Buffs prepare for another wet homecoming game of sorts as heavy underdogs against the Knights (3-0).

“These guys (are) ready to go back home,” said Colorado safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, a native of Alabama. “Everybody (is) trying to trade tickets and everything. We’ve got a million people coming to the game, so everybody is excited to go down there to Florida.”

Colorado’s roster lists 18 Florida players on its roster, second only to players from Texas (21) and more than the 14 players who hail from Colorado itself.

That list doesn’t even include Hunter, who grew up in West Palm Beach before moving to Georgia, or starting tackle Jordan Seaton, a Washington, D.C., product who played at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Sanders, Colorado’s 57-year-old head coach, came from Fort Myers, about 160 miles southwest of Orlando by car. He has made a point of recruiting what he calls his “Florida boys.” He was asked Tuesday what sets them apart.

“That hunger, that thirst, that will, that want, that me-against-the world, that we don’t have the best of things, but we gonna make the most of things the way our parents came up to desolate and (turbulent) times that we’ve come through, the naysayers, the haters,” Sanders said.

Sanders cited the number of players in the NFL that are from Florida. The state ranks second to Texas with players on NFL rosters this year (184-173), according to a study by MaxPreps. Last year, Florida ranked fifth on a per-capita basis with one NFL player per 121,001 people, behind the Deep South states of Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to a report published by NFL.com.

“Our Florida boys are excited, but they know we’re on the job,” Sanders said at his news conference Tuesday in Boulder.

Colorado heavy underdogs to UCF

The Buffs are 15.5-point underdogs against UCF, according to BetMGM. They play a Knights team that is coming off a bye week and ranks first nationally in rushing offense with 375.7 yards per game, led by quarterback KJ Jefferson and Orlando native RJ Harvey, who ranks fourth nationally with 149.3 rushing yards per game. By contrast, Colorado has the fifth-worst rushing attack in the nation with 68.8 yards per game and is coming off a frenetic come-from-behind win against Baylor, marked by a miracle finish and another ball-hawking flourish by Hunter.

“We feel like we’re the idiots that put ourselves in that situation to make it happen, and we don’t want to do that again,” Sanders said about the end of the Baylor game. “We feel like we’re better than that. We really do, but we’re extremely thankful and appreciative that our men didn’t give up and they came through.”

Injury update for Shilo Sanders, Dallan Hayden

Sanders said his son Shilo, a safety for Colorado, likely won’t return from a forearm injury until Colorado’s next game after the UCF contest – on Oct. 12 at home vs. Kansas State. Shilo Sanders has missed the last two games after sustaining the injury in a Sept. 7 loss against Nebraska.

Deion Sanders said two other top players will return from unspecified injuries – running back Dallan Hayden, a transfer from Ohio State, and defensive lineman Chidozie Nwankwo, a transfer from Houston.

Coach Prime talks Shohei Ohtani, Rickey Henderson, Barry Bonds

Sanders, a former Major League Baseball player, was asked Tuesday about baseball star Shohei Ohtani, who recently became the first player to hit at least 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.

“He’s incredible, man,” Sanders said Tuesday. “I mean, you can compare him to the (Michael) Jordans and… Tom Bradys of the world. That’s who he is. He’s doing things we haven’t fathomed.”

Sanders also offered some personal perspective.

“The greatest baseball player I’ve ever played with and seen live has to be Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson,” Sanders said Tuesday. “I love me some Rickey Henderson. God I love me some Rickey Henderson. I wanted to be Rickey Henderson.”

Henderson is the all-time leader in stolen bases with 1,406 over 25 years. He played in a different era, when pitchers weren’t limited to a certain number of pickoff attempts to help prevent runners from stealing bases. Now pitchers are limited to two pickoff attempts per plate appearance.

“Can you imagine Rickey Henderson, you could just throw over two times to him?” Sanders said. “He’ll be at third (base). He’ll just cut across the grass, man. Just go ahead and get it over with.”

Sanders said Bonds, the all-time home run king, is the “greatest ever” and “should be in the Hall of Fame.”

He’s not because of suspicions he used performance-enhancing drugs. Sanders played with Bonds on the 1995 San Francisco Giants.

“If you threw that ball anywhere in his zone, it was a souvenir,” Sanders said. “That’s how good he was.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]