Deion Sanders Questions Comment By South Carolina Baseball Coach
BALTIMORE, MD - OCTOBER 26: NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders appears on set during the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins game at M&T Bank Stadium on October 26, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Deion Sanders is one of the most famous two-sport athletes of all-time, starring in the NFL and playing in the MLB simultaneously. His son Shilo Sanders had the same goal as a freshman at South Carolina.
The former three-star cornerback just finished up his first season with the Gamecocks. He played in four games, primarily on special teams, so he maintains a year of eligibility.
Last May, he made it pretty clear that he intended to play baseball for the Gamecocks after the football season ended. From The State:
“I don’t want to try baseball,” Sanders told The State, “I want to play baseball.”
[...]
“I like both,” Shilo Sanders said. “I’ve grown up playing both. As soon as football season is over, it’s straight into baseball. When baseball season’s over, it’s straight into football.”
Deion played football, baseball and ran track while at Florida State in the 1980s.
“My dad just said I have to take care of what I need to take care of in football to get the opportunity to do both,” Shilo said. “That’s what I plan to do.”
He got that opportunity this week, but according to Deion Sanders, it wasn't what the family envisioned.
On Tuesday, baseball coach Mark Kingston said that Shilo Sanders had elected to stay "focused on football," and that while he's talented, he won't be trying to play baseball this season.
Deion says that his son had been "working tirelessly" in preparation for his baseball tryout, which wound up amounting to 30 swings in a batting cage.
According to 247Sports, Shilo Sanders got a longer look than what Deion described there. Whether five days of workouts constituted a longer official "tryout" is unclear at this point.
"A source close to the situation confirmed to 247Sports that Shilo has worked out with the team five different days and got a considerably closer look from South Carolina's baseball staff ahead of the spring season than what's been communicated on social media."
We'll see what winds up happening with this situation, but hopefully Sanders got a fair shake here.
