Colorado football coach Deion Sanders was back at practice with the Buffaloes on Wednesday, a day after undergoing surgery related to blood clots.
Sanders had a procedure called an aspiration thrombectomy, which involves the left popliteal — located behind the knee — and tibial arteries. He appears on track to be on the sideline Saturday when the Buffaloes (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) host No. 22 Iowa State (5-1, 2-1).
Deion Sanders Jr. posted a short video of his father to social media Wednesday as the Colorado coach stood at the 35-yard-line with a play sheet dangling from his waist. His team was practicing on the other side of the 50.
On Tuesday night, in a video posted by Well Off Media, which chronicles the Buffaloes, Sanders and his medical team talked about the procedure that would clean out his arteries to prevent more clots. Sanders said it was his 16th surgery over the past few years.
“Same position,” Sanders said as he got comfortable in the hospital bed. “Never doubting God. Never stressing. Never second-guessing.”
Sanders received a visit from fellow former longtime NFL cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, who gave his friend a kiss on the head. Sanders also took calls from sons Shedeur and Shilo, who played under their father’s direction at Colorado; Shedeur is now a quarterback for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
“If you give me $5 million just to have, I will make sure that you don’t have to get surgery anymore,” Shilo cracked on the phone call.
“I know where your care is coming from,” his dad playfully responded. “I don’t want nothing to do with your care.”
“If you give me five, I’ll make sure you’re alive,” Shilo said, drawing a laugh from his father and Jones.
Soon after, the coach was taken away to the operating room.
The 58-year-old was in pain during a 35-21 loss at TCU last Saturday, alternating between sitting and limping along the sideline with his leg throbbing. He didn’t wear a shoe on his left foot in the second half and afterward said he was “hurting like crazy.”
Sanders — who is in the halls of fame for both college and pro football as a player — dealt with blood clots during his time as Jackson State’s head coach in 2021, with doctors amputating two of the toes on his left foot. He also skipped a Pac-12 media day session in 2023, his first year at Colorado after a procedure to remove a blood clot from his right leg and another to straighten toes on his left foot.
Last spring, Sanders was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer. He revealed details of his treatment, which involved doctors removing his bladder and reconstructing a section of his intestine to function as a bladder.