Sources: Sanders preparing to take Colorado job
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Pete ThamelESPN
Jackson State coach Deion Sanders has been preparing to make an exit in order to take the head coaching job at Colorado, sources told ESPN on Friday.
With Jackson State on the cusp of the SWAC title game Saturday, Sanders and his associates have spent the week making inquiries to both potential members of his on-field staff and support staff at Colorado, pitching them to join him in Boulder, sources said.
A source told ESPN on Friday night that Sanders’ outreach included a call to a prominent player in the NCAA transfer portal, encouraging him to not make a decision because Sanders was heading to Colorado and wanted to recruit him there.
A different source close to a player committed to play at Colorado said that earlier this week a current Jackson State staff member called to check in on the player’s Colorado commitment. He also asked him for some film of the player to evaluate him.
“They weren’t exactly hiding anything,” said the source. “It seemed like it was a done deal.”
Internally at Colorado, according to sources, the support staff has been seen preparing material for Sanders’ hire. There’s a widespread expectation in the building that Sanders will arrive there this weekend, although the staff has not been told formally.
“They’re not doing a great job of hiding this,” said a staff source. “If he backs out of this deal, it would be a huge problem for Colorado.”
Sanders has said publicly that he’s been offered the Colorado job. All signs point to him accepting it in the next 48 hours, as all the other candidates Colorado has engaged have been stalled after interviewing weeks ago.
Sanders has gone 26-5 his past three seasons at Jackson State and 22-2 the past two years. Jackson State (11-0) plays Southern (7-4), a team it beat 35-0 earlier in the year, for the SWAC title Saturday. Sanders is expected to inform his team that he’s leaving soon after the game.
Sanders is in just his third season as a college football coach.
Colorado fired Karl Dorrell in October after an 0-5 start and an 8-15 record overall in three years as coach. Mike Sanford filled in as interim and went 1-6 to close the year.
Sanders is an iconic American athlete and a member of both the Pro Football and College Football Hall of Fame. He played in the NFL for 14 seasons, won two Super Bowls and also played for five different Major League Baseball teams from 1989 through 2001.
DENVER — Rafael Devers‘ 30th home run of the season was a weird one.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland along with San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman and shortstop Willy Adames were ejected from Tuesday night’s game following a benches-clearing incident that started after Devers hit a two-run homer in the first inning.
Devers hammered a sweeper over the right-field wall, and Freeland took exception to Devers’ celebration, shouting at him as he neared first base.
That caused several players to charge toward the infield, where Chapman appeared to make contact with Freeland. Adames also was in the middle of the scrum.
The umpires restored order before sorting out the situation and announcing the ejections. It did not appear that any punches were thrown.
Devers waited at first base while the umpires were meeting and then trotted around the bases several minutes after he actually hit the homer.
The Giants had to shuffle their defensive infield after the two ejections, moving Devers to third base for the first time since he was traded to the club from the Boston Red Sox in June. Christian Koss moved from second base to shortstop, Casey Schmitt entered the game at second base and Dominic Smith entered at first.
Antonio Senzatela came in the game to pitch for the Rockies.
Devers’ 30th homer also ended a skid for the Giants — sort of. He is the first San Francisco player to hit 30 homers in a season while wearing a Giants uniform since Barry Bonds in 2004, but he hit his first 15 long balls with the Red Sox.
Star Boston Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony left Tuesday night’s 11-7 win against the Cleveland Guardians because of left oblique tightness and will undergo an MRI on Wednesday, according to manager Alex Cora.
Anthony could be seen grabbing at his lower back on a swinging third strike in the bottom of the fourth inning. He did not take the field in the top of the fifth, with Nate Eaton replacing him in right field at Fenway Park.
Anthony’s absence would be significant for a Red Sox team that entered Tuesday night just 2½ games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. Anthony has been a catalyst to Boston’s resurgence since his June callup, with the 21-year-old hitting .291 with an .861 OPS, eight home runs and 31 RBIs entering Tuesday.
Anthony entered the season as baseball’s No. 1 prospect. He has since signed an eight-year, $130 million extension with the team.
Teammate Marcelo Mayer, who entered the season as baseball’s No. 6 prospect, joined the big league club before Anthony in May but has since had season-ending wrist surgery. Kristian Campbell, the third of Boston’s touted prospects, opened the season as the club’s starting second baseman but was sent down to Triple-A Worcester in June after some early struggles.
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