Meet the Lesser-Known Sanders Helping Propel Coach Prime's Social Media Success

Deion Sanders' arrival in Boulder has boosted football success at the University of Colorado and rocked the sports world, with much of that momentum thanks to social media.

One of the architects behind Coach Prime’s online clout has been Darius Sanders, CEO of Reach The People Media. Although he's not related to the Sanders family, Darius has been by the side of Deion and his children over the last few years, ready to press record.

His videos of Deion transforming a CU cafeteria into a fine-dining restaurant at Folsom Field and United States Navy Seals training with the CU football team have garnered 2.2 million and 1.3 million views on YouTube, respectively. These videos, along with documenting Pro Football Hall of Fame Ray Lewis' message to the football team, have played a key role in increasing the Buffs' popularity.
Darius’ says his media journey began as a young boy, setting up cables and operating camera equipment for his dad's multimedia company. He calls those times "a blessing," but he took a break from media as he grew up, working in an oil field after leaving college in debt.

“I was trying to find my way, work my way out of debt. I knew that I had gone to school before, but I just didn't want to be in debt,” he says. “I wanted to go to law school. I wanted to be an entertainment lawyer. I wanted to do all these different things.”

Darius couldn't stay in the oil fields forever, so he reenrolled in school in 2020. While working on his podcast about hip-hop music, he was introduced to Deion Sanders Jr., who was working on a hip-hop career of his own in the Dallas area. Hoping to dive deeper into the local music scene and expand his audience, Darius approached Sanders Jr., known as "Bucky" among friends, through a mutual connection.

“At that time, he had just put out a new album," Darius recalls. "This is a perfect way for me to reach the people, to show what [the podcast] can do.”

After multiple interviews, Darius and Sanders Jr. became close. Darius was invited over to Bucky's home — and all this time Darius swears that he wasn’t aware of his new friend's legendary father.

“At that time, I still didn't know who he was," Sanders says. "Like, this dude's last name is Sanders. What the heck? I played basketball, so I didn't know anything about beyond 'Sanders.'"

It all "came full circle" soon enough, however, and the professional football legacies didn't end there. Darius then opened a music studio in Dallas, Creator Verse, with Darren Woodson Jr., whose father played with Deion Sanders and won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.

As his business ventures grew, Darius was asked by Sanders Jr. to help create content online, and they quickly drew views on YouTube. After racking up traffic, the two were getting paid a couple of thousand dollars per month, which isn't easy for a YouTube upstart.

Coach Prime eventually took notice, but it took a while.

After Sanders Sr. took his first college head coaching job at Jackson State in 2020, Darius was brought on to produce behind-the-scenes footage of the team and Coach Prime. And as Coach Prime promoted the school in the mainstream media on shows like ESPN's College GameDay and 60 Minutes on CBS, Darius was cranking up Jackson State's social media footprint.

The strategy, developed alongside Sanders Jr., included locker room and sideline access. Their videos, such as when Coach Prime had the CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, visit the team and when Rick Ross showed up in the locker room, thrust Jackson State into the spotlight.
This approach significantly boosted the team's social media engagement, with Jackson State University athletics experiencing a 303 percent increase in interactions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the university.

Darius was experiencing a whirlwind, too. After Sanders Sr. landed the top recruit in the country to come to Jackson State, Darius knew he had a new superstar to cover: Travis Hunter.

“I look up, and I'm only in Texas on Tuesday from 8 to 8:50 for my class. And other than that, I'm flying, I'm living in Jackson, [Mississippi], at a hotel," he says. "I moved into Bucky's house. Then we moved out to Jackson, staying in the hotel, worked for Buc, and I started filming Travis Hunter's vlogs.“

Hunter, one of several Jackson State players to leave for CU with Sanders Sr. in 2023, won the Heisman Trophy for the Buffs one year later.

Darius’s relationship with Sanders Sr. evolved, as well. Although the two didn't speak for the first couple of years, that changed when Coach Prime accepted the CU job.

The state of Colorado has witnessed the “Prime Effect” since the Sanders family arrived. The Buffs won nine games for the first time since 2016 and earned an appearance in the Valero Alamo Bowl, and the team has played in nationally televised games on a near-weekly basis.

“It's been studied," Darius says. "The Harvard Business School put out a whole study on it. It can be replicated, bro. It's just, you have to take on that role. I think this is the fun part. For any team, I don't think the school social media will be successful unless their coach is an enigmatic figure. The coach has to have some type of personality. “

From Coach Prime merchandise to nationally televised games, CU has been one of the hottest stories in the sports world for two years now. According to Darius, that credit goes to Deion Sanders’ ability to use his savvy as a former player and media member to maximize the football program's exposure.

“He's an athlete, but as far as media, Coach Prime is actually a media professional,” Darius says. “Like, bar none: every skill that a person talent or producer would need, he has it. And he's good and great at it."

Darius believes what separates their content from other college teams is the personal connection they create with players.

“I know all these players by name, got all their numbers,” Darius says. “I'm cool with them in real life. So when we're talking, the camera's just there, the camera's always there, but we're having a conversation. That's what makes our content different. And that's what will make anyone's content different."

The college football season is over, but Darius hasn't stopped making videos. He's currently chronicling the journeys of Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders, Shilo Sanders and other former CU players as they prepare for NFL draft.

As his own future, Darius plans on staying right by Coach Prime and continuing to elevate the CU program on social media.

“I'm gonna still probably always help run Coach Prime’s page, because he's only gonna get bigger,” Darius says. “And he operates off trust: his son and then another trusted confidant [are] running the page. I don't see him ever expounding and giving that freedom up to, let's say, people he doesn't know."

However, Darius still hopes to produce content for Hunter, Shedeur and others as they cross into the pros.

"Shedeur and Shilo are always gonna be my brothers,” he says.