49ers coach Shanahan taking note of Deion’s success at Colorado

Deion Sanders played for the 49ers when Mike Shanahan was the offensive coordinator in 1994

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Kyle Shanahan is watching Deion Sanders’ immediate success as the University of Colorado’s new football coach.

Shanahan, the 49ers’ seventh-year coach, was a Saratoga High School junior when he received Sanders’ 49ers jersey as a Christmas present in 1994. He wore it every day for over a month, until the 49ers won the Super Bowl with his father, Mike, as offensive coordinator.

That jersey was eventually stolen and is now lost. But Shanahan’s fondness for Sanders remains, and he has ties to the state after his father left the 49ers’ offensive coordinator job to become Denver’s head coach in 1995.

Here’s what he had to say about Sanders leading Colorado to a 3-0 start as college football’s main attraction:

“Yeah, it’s been really cool to watch. You never know how things will turn out. Then, with him going there and the whole transfer rules, which I don’t even understand and hope to never have to understand, you don’t know how it’s going to work but you want to watch because everyone was such a fan of him growing up and how cool he is now.

“Watching their first game was really what made it real.” That was the week before we started (the season), and I was just hanging out at home when they played TCU. The best part was watching their team play. Deion is well-known for his cool demeanor. But we always discuss the’silent tape’ and how a team appears. It was a lot of fun to watch those guys come out and battle, and how hard they played and how confident they were.

“I’m originally from Colorado.” Mandy, my wife, went there. My wedding’s best man went there. I’m a (Texas) Longhorn, so I don’t like it there. But (he’s) currently making some of us like CU. We have a lot of CSU (Colorado State) guys in our office, and they even admitted last week that CU was pretty cool right now.

“We were able to see the fourth quarter in my hotel room last week after we finished our meetings (Saturday night).” With their backs to the wall, they stepped up and completed the task. It’s been fascinating to watch. It’s enjoyable for sports. And it’s probably the most talked-about team right now. That’s impossible to be upset about.”