Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is receiving about five death threats a day, according to his bodyguard, which is why his team is being urged to take safety precautions at its first team meeting of 2026.
Sanders’ bodyguard, Michael Rhodes, told the team’s players to “keep an eye out” for who comes into the football facility, which Sanders’ eldest son, Deion Jr., captured in a video released on Friday, Jan. 23.
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“I’m Officer Rhodes. I’m the head of security at Coach Prime,” Rhodes told the team. “Honestly, what I’m saying is this. You new guys, when you go to the facility in the morning, be aware of who comes in with you, especially in the elevators. Don’t let people force you to scan them on the floor because everyone is trying to get to Coach Prime. Those who are trying to get to them, not all of them have good intentions. So just keep that in mind and don’t open any doors because my philosophy is, if the door is open, they’re going to come in and then they have to come see me.”
Deion Sanders: ‘We get death threats all the time’
Deion Sanders then chimed in to tell the team why he needed private security. Rhodes is listed as “head coach’s personal security” on Colorado’s staff, where he made $48,880 last year. Rhodes previously served as a police officer at Jackson State University, where Sanders was the head coach before being hired by Colorado in December 2022. In addition to following Sanders in Colorado, Rhodes scanned Sanders’ emails for potential risks.
“We’ve been getting death threats,” Sanders said. “Why? I’m a black man who makes this happen, makes this happen, makes this happen. So we have something real.”
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Sanders then asked Roode: “How many death threats have we received?”
“About five a day,” Rod replied.
Sanders enters his fourth year at Colorado State with a team that went 3-9 in 2025, 9-4 in 2024 and 4-8 in 2023. Buffalo will open the 2026 season on Sept. 5 at Georgia Tech.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders receives five death threats a day over Colorado football team
