Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders gets timely motivation from Tom Brady ahead of Nebraska game

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders received a text message from a trusted mentor of his shortly after leading his team to a stunning 45-42 win Saturday at TCU.

The mentor was Tom Brady, the legendary former NFL quarterback.

His message was simple:

“Don’t be satisfied.”

He’s not. The youngest son of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders made that clear Tuesday after his record-setting performance.

As the Buffaloes prepares to face Nebraska in the team's sold-out home opener Saturday, Shedeur Sanders even made it sound like watching the game film of his nationally televised masterpiece in Texas was like watching a horror movie filled with too many incomplete throws and poor decisions.

“I feel like I missed a lot of stuff,” he said at a news conference Tuesday. “I could have had bigger numbers and stuff like that. I watched the game. I seen all the bad clips yesterday and stuff, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, really. So I’m must motivated to get out there and have more perfection and just a better game.”

How can he have a better game?

He set nine school records in his first game for Colorado, including 510 passing yards and a completion percentage of 80.9%. He led the Buffaloes − a team that finished 1-11 last year − into the national rankings for the first time since the pandemic-shortened season in 2020 at No. 25 in the US LMB Coaches Poll.

Sanders, 21, now has a 71-8 record as a quarterback dating to high school, including 23-3 in two seasons at Jackson State under his father as head coach.

"We have an absolutely elite, I’m talking about top-level, elite quarterback," Colorado tight ends coach Tim Brewster said in August.

Brewster would know. He previously worked as an assistant coach on NFL and college teams that included standout quarterbacks Drew Brees, Jake Plummer and Jameis Winston.

But Deion Sanders made the point after Saturday's game that nobody seemed to believe it until now, when they’re playing at the highest level of college football instead of at Jackson State, which competes at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level with fewer resources and less depth of talent.

It was a label that was used to diminish him: Shedeur was an “FCS player” even though he could have joined major programs if he didn’t want to play for his dad in Jackson, Mississippi.

“I’ll say the only difference between FCS and this level is the (defensive line) get off blocks when you try to scramble up, faster,” he said Saturday. “That’s it.”

That and the media attention is more intense at Colorado. Otherwise, this is the same Shedeur Sanders who has been winning his whole life under the influence of his father – with input from Brady – while also being pushed along in friendly competition with his older brother Shilo, a safety at Colorado.  In the bigger picture, Saturday marked just the latest act in a process that has been carefully managed and planned for years, right down to his personal hygiene after a game.

BOWL PROJECTIONS:Florida State moves into College Football Playoff

CALM DOWN:  Week 1 overreactions led by Colorado, Ohio State

What’s his method?

∎ Unlike his more flamboyant father, Shedeur appears soft-spoken. “Rock steady,” said his father.

Shedeur now is getting much more attention after Saturday, but said Tuesday says he doesn’t watch television or look at social media despite having more than 1.1 million followers on his Instagram account, which is managed by others. He also only gives his personal phone number to only a select group of people. This all helps him avoid distractions.

“I’m disconnected from that type of stuff because I know what it can lead to,” he said.

∎ He thrives off competition off the field, too, especially in a family of former or current athletes. His eldest brother Deion Jr. played at SMU. His youngest sister Shelomi plays basketball at Colorado. His other brother Shilo is a teammate on the other side of the ball.

“They (Shedeur and Shilo) argue about who has the most money in the bank,” Deion Sanders said at a news conference Tuesday. “I like that because it’s not who’s spending the most, who has the most stuff. It’s like, `Who has the most in the bank?’ I love to hear that argument. I love that. Then it gets on my nerves, and I say, `Let’s stop it.’ But they go in and compete all the time, and I like it because it pushes them.”

∎ Shedeur’s method also means he’s more focused on what went wrong than all that went right after a game like Saturday’s. Credit the influence of Brady, who also mentored him at Jackson State playing under his father.

“It’s really just highlighting the bad things that we did and watching it over and over and over and giving us that bad feeling like we can’t make the same mistake,” Shedeur Sanders said Tuesday.

∎ Appearances matter, too. After his performance Saturday, he sat down to take questions from reporters but first looked down at his phone and called a timeout.

“One second,” he said. “One second. I’m making sure there ain’t nothing in my teeth, man.”

It relates to one of the old maxims of his stylish father, a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

“If you look good, you feel good,” his father has often said. “If you feel good, you play good.”

On Saturday, Shedeur Sanders did all those things, especially at the end of Saturday’s game.

What happened and what’s next?

TCU led in the fourth quarter, 42-38, with less five minutes remaining. Sanders faced fourth-and-2 from the TCU 46-yard line. If the Buffaloes failed at this moment, TCU could have sailed to victory.

“I’m in my head like, `Dang, it’s fourth-and-2, but I’ve been there before, you know?” Shedeur Sanders said. “It’s not my first fourth-and-2, game-on-the-line situation. So I’m, `OK, execute the play call. That’s it. If that ain’t there, then extend the play. Do something to make it happen.”

He did, taking the snap from shotgun and finding freshman running back Dylan Edwards open for a pass near the line of scrimmage. Edwards then raced left for the touchdown, helping put the Buffs on top for good, 45-42.

It was the fourth touchdown pass of the game for Sanders.

Now comes Nebraska, Colorado’s old rival from the Big Eight and Big 12.

“We just know the history of it − Colorado, we don’t like Nebraska, simple,” Shedeur Sanders said.

With another big game, he’ll continue to climb into other conversations – whether he is a Heisman Trophy candidate and whether he might turn pro after his lone season in Boulder. In the meantime, he’ll keep heeding the advice that came from Brady after the game. 

“It was cool hearing from him knowing he's still watching,” Shedeur Sanders said. “Just working him, it really helped me to understand − don’t focus on the good things. We did that… Focus on the bad things.  Focus on the things we wasn’t able to do at a high level.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com