Keeler: Would Deion Sanders bench Shilo Sanders? If CU Buffs safety whiffs again at Arizona, Coach Prime may be left with no choice

BOULDER — We come not to bury Shilo Sanders. Honest. DJ Giddens already took care of that.

“We can’t give up plays that we know we can make. We can’t (not) play up to our standards,” Sanders, CU’s sixth-year senior safety and son of Buffs football coach Deion Sanders, said during the program’s weekly news conference.

“Especially me. Because I’m the free safety. I’m the locksmith on the defense. I can’t be going out there not being on my game.”

He is. He is. He can’t. And he wasn’t. Giddens, Kansas State’s star tailback, did stuff to the younger Sanders in three-and-a-half hours last weekend that Michael Jordan used to do to the Cleveland Cavaliers come playoff time.

When the Buffs safety attempted a hit-stick tackle with his shoulder, failing to wrap up or use either arm, the 212-pound Giddens shrugged it off, spun, and kept chugging.

On another attempt, Sanders squared up the K-State back in the hole, 1-on-1. Giddens wiggled and planted hard left, then juked so hard to the right that the CU safety stopped, then slipped and fell to his knees while the Wildcats star zagged the other direction.

Social media went nuts over that last one. And not in a kind way.

“It’s just… disappointing for me, especially the fans,” Shilo said Tuesday. “And I’ve been seeing everybody turn on me and stuff like that. But I’m not worried about (any) of that because as soon as you do good, they’re gonna be right back on your side just how they were when we won (that) UCF game out there in Florida.

“So I’m not really worried about (any) of that. I’m worried about me getting better, worried about contributing to the team and helping us win, and … my role. I can’t be going out there (off) my game. I’m the free safety. If I mess up, everybody’s gonna see it.”

To be fair to Sanders, some context matters here. One, Giddens is the real deal — an old-school big back (6-foot-1) with NFL quicks and an NFL frame. Two, the Buffs safety was playing at game speed, against one of the most physical offenses in the Big 12, for the first time in a month. The Buffs defender suffered an arm injury at Nebraska back on Sept. 7. A little rust is understandable.

All that being said if that rust continues when the Buffs (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) visit mercurial Arizona (3-3, 1-2) on Saturday afternoon … he’s really going start putting his pops in a pickle.

Why? Because CU’s defense looked better, particularly against the run, while Sanders was out.

Especially at UCF, arguably the most complete game of the Coach Prime Era at CU. The scouts at Pro Football Focus, who grade on a “100” scale, assigned Shilo’s replacement/understudy, Carter Stoutmire, a 48.7 coverage grade against the Knights — but a 75.0 grade in run defense.

Point of comparison: In the opener against NDSU, PFF gave Shilo a 73.4 grade in pass coverage and a 74.0 against the run.

“With me not being on the field, he played (well),” the younger Sanders said Tuesday when asked about Stoutmire. “He’s a guy (that) started playing corner, then he came (and) filled in that role (at) safety, he held it down.”

If the Buffs want to get a leg up again in what could be a wacky Big 12 title chase, Shilo needs to start doing the same. To his credit, the younger Sanders turned up Tuesday, sat down in front of a room full of reporters and owned every bit of a tough night at the office.

Mind you, some of that “X” backlash stemmed from a short video posted this past April in which Sanders encouraged critics to go “download” PFF to check out his missed tackle percentage from 2023, adding, “y’all do that, and then teach me how to tackle.”

According to PFF, Giddens led all offensive players in FBS on the site’s “missed tackles forced” stat last weekend, with 12. If you’re curious.

“We can’t just quit now,” Sanders continued. “I can’t just quit now just (because I played) the worst game of my life.”

While his little brother Shedeur is the darling of NFL scouts, and deservedly so, those same draftniks aren’t as high on the CU safety. He’s not big. He’s not Travis Hunter fast. His angles can be all over the place. His default mode is to truck dudes, which sometimes leads to fantastic, viral results. And sometimes gets him juked out of his athletic supporter.

“I know I’m good at football … I’ve made a lot of tackles in my career,” Sanders said. “And in one game, (I’m) just not going — I’m not gonna let everybody (say), ‘Oh, you’re trash, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ You can’t tell me what I can’t do if I’ve done it already. And you probably haven’t done it. So I’ve done it. I know (what) I’m capable of … we’ve won big games. We know what we’re capable of. So we’ve just got to go do it.”

Owning up is half the battle. If Shilo uses his arms in Tucson as deftly as he used his thumb on Tuesday, CU will be the one swinging the shovel. And taking names.

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