Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders had Mel Kiper Jr.’s back after the ESPN analyst defended himself against Miami Hurricanes headman Mario Cristobal’s accusation that Kiper was upstaging Cam Ward on draft night by talking so much about Shedeur Sanders’ slide down the draft board.
Coach Prime took to Twitter to highlight his TV hosting experience and describe how well Kiper handled himself that night.
“But I Love u my man! You stood on the desk with great balance 10 toes down and said what u doggone said & didn’t flinch. You knew what time it was my man & we’re blessed to be right where God wanted us to be. “With OPPORTUNITY” they forgot I was in the tv/entertainment business for 20 years before coaching,” Coach Prime tweeted.
Kiper didn’t appreciate Cristobal’s insinuation that the draft expert wanted to undermine Ward with his multiple-day on-air Sanders spectacle.
“Mario Cristobal claims he spoke to a million people about Cam Ward, yet the one he didn’t speak to, being me, had Ward ranked higher (6th on my Big Board) than any of the other draft experts. Interesting isn’t it. And oh by the way, I didn’t speak to Deion about Shedeur either. I need another Orange Crush after this nonsense” Kiper tweeted.
Cristobal called Kiper out by name while speaking to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.
“I can’t recall many NFL teams or TV people I didn’t speak to,” Cristobal said.
“Never heard from him. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him.”
Sanders and Kiper seem to be on the same side of the media standoff. Meanwhile, Cristobal used McMurphy to spread his anti-Kiper narrative on the other side of the line.
At the end of the day, it’s literal hearsay that’s being argued over.
The real battle will be on the field, where we know Ward will be starring for the Tennessee Titans from the jump, and we’ll soon find out if Shedeur will even make the Cleveland Browns out of training camp.