SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan is paying attention to Deion Sanders’ immediate success as the new football coach at the University of Colorado.
Shanahan, the 49ers’ seventh-year coach, was a Saratoga High School teenager when he got Sanders’ 49ers jersey as a 1994 Christmas present that he would cherish. He wore it daily for over a month through the Super Bowl, which the 49ers won with his dad, Mike, as the offensive coordinator.
That jersey eventually was stolen and remains adrift. But Shanahan’s affection for Sanders remains in place, and he has ties to the state after his father left the 49ers OC job to become Denver’s head coach in 1995.
Here is what he said about Sanders guiding Colorado to a 3-0 start as college football’s marquee show:
“Yeah, it’s been fun to watch, really cool. You never know how it’s going to work out. Then with him going there and the whole transfer rules, which I don’t even understand and hope never have to, you don’t know how it’s going to work but you want to watch, everyone being such a fan of him growing up and how cool he is now.
“Really, what made it real was just watching their first game. That was the week before we started (the season) and I was just hanging out at the house and I got to watch them vs. TCU. To watch how their team played was the coolest thing. Everyone knows how cool Deion is. But we always talk about the ‘silent tape’ and how a team looks. To watch those dudes come out and battle, and how hard they played and the confidence they had, that’s what made it so fun to watch.
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“I’m from Colorado. My wife (Mandy) went there. The best man at my wedding went there. I’m not a big fan of there – I’m a (Texas) Longhorn. But (he’s) actually making some of us like CU right now. We have a lot of CSU (Colorado State) guys in our office and last week they even admitted CU was pretty cool right now.
“Last week, when we were done with our meetings (Saturday night), we were able to see the fourth quarter in my hotel room. Their backs were against the wall, they stepped it up and got it done. It’s been cool to watch. It’s fun for sports. And it’s probably the most hyped team going on right now. Can’t get mad about that.”
