Well, as we all must be aware, there is a debate that’s running in the Sanders fam. And what’s that? ‘Who is Deion Sanders’ favorite kid?’ The father of five is often asked to pick his favorite kid. Even though Deion Sanders sometimes names Deiondra or Shedeur, one name makes one of the most frequent picks. And no brownie points for guessing who that is. Has to be Deion Sanders Jr., aka Bucky.
On December 4, 2024, Coach Prime tweeted a heartfelt post for Sanders Jr. The caption of the post read, “This is the difference and my Favorite kid. @DeionSandersJr Welloff Media on YouTube Subscribe asap please and thank u for supporting me and my son.” However, even being Deion’s “favorite,” Sanders Jr. did not pursue his father’s footsteps, unlike his two brothers. Yes, initially, Bucky had signed up for football, but ultimately switched to being the backbone of the Colorado Buffaloes’ brand management.
Unfortunately, no matter how short Sanders Jr.’s football stint has been, people often forget about that part of his life. On the July 25th episode of the Dukesthescoop podcast, host Philip Dukes invited Bucky as the guest. The host asked, “So, I think one of the things that gets lost on people is how good an athlete you were. So, I’mma put you on something. So, Coach Steph Brown, who trained LaJohntay, Jimmy Horn, and Will Shepard pre-draft. Steph, he grew up about 10 minutes down the street from where I did. And, he told me about a prep school you went to that you was ki- -ing stuff. He said he went to the same prep school. I think it was it Atlanta Sports Academy, something like that.”
Credits: Deion Sanders Jr. Instagram
Sanders Jr. replied, “Yeah, Atlanta Sports Academy. And it wasn’t even in Atlanta. It was like an hour outside of Atlanta. But it was. Yeah, I was playing a little bit of receiver and corner at the time. It was pretty cool, bro. It was a great experience.” Bucky had spent only one year at Atlanta Sports Academy. Back then, in 2012, he had three picks. During this Atlanta Sports Academy chapter, Sanders Jr. was a two-star Rivals.com, 247sports.com, and Scout.com prospect. He even landed an invitation to play corner in the Under Armour All-American Bowl in 2012. Along with managing two positions, he lettered in track and held an offer from Houston as a prep senior. In that case, Sanders Jr. had that thing to be an athlete. This then led to the next question.
“So, let me ask you this. When did you know that you was a D1 football player? Cause they people forget about that. When did you know that you could do it at that level?” asked Dukea. Sanders Jr. replied, “Just always. But like I was just smaller, right? And it’s not that it was before, like I feel old as hell saying this, but like you had to like seek out coaches on Facebook or some, or emails, and like send them your huddle. You had to make your own highlight. It was just different. So like the recruiting process was weird. And I didn’t really go to camps under other than the Under Armour combines, which my dad would work at, you know what I’m saying?”
He continued, “Some of them. So I would go there. But I always knew cause you know, and I played quarterback my junior year. Not even so, it was like you just always knew, bro. You knew you’ve been just good your whole life, so I always knew I was going to play Division 1 for sure.”
But he never landed in the NFL. As a freshman, Sanders Jr. played in seven of SMU’s final eight games at wide receiver and kickoff returner. He came up with a season-high three catches for 18 yards (long of 10) in SMU’s win over Temple. During his sophomore year, Deion’s son had 10 kick returns for an SMU-record 203 yards at UCF and was selected as a Second Team All-American Athletic Conference selection as a kick returner. Now that he is now walking on a new path, is Sanders Jr. earning any less money or fame?
How Deion Sanders Jr. is building his own empire
No way. Sanders Jr. has built a brand of his own, Well Off Media. On YouTube, the page has a followers fam of 594k subscribers while on Instagram, the Well Off Forever account is followed by 134k people. As we all must be aware, Sanders Jr.’s brother, Shedeur, had reigned in the college football world, holding the first place in terms of NIL valuation, which was reported to be $6.5 million, last season. His other brother, Shilo, too, signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers worth nearly $3 million. Turns out that Sanders Jr. is also making strides when it comes to financial earnings.
Like Shedeur, Bucky, too, has a penchant for luxury cars. He’s a collector of both vintage classics like the 1964 Chevy Impala and modern beasts like a Lamborghini Urus. Back in June, this year, Sanders Jr. thought it was time to add a new addition to his garage, and it definitely stirred up some serious noise. Well Off Media hard-launched his new four-wheel beast haul on YouTube. The caption read, “Deion Sanders Jr. Swaps Out Green Rolls Royce For a Black Badge Ghost.” No, Sanders Jr.’s recent achievements are not limited to this.
His dad, Deion Sanders, has his own sneaker collection in collaboration with Nike, known as the Nike Air DT Max Trainer ’96. It was now time for Deion Sanders Jr. to step his feet in the sneaker game. On June 17, Papa Prime shared the big news on IG: “DEION SANDERS JR IS GETTING HIS OWN NIKE AIR DIAMOND TURF.” Named as Diamond Turf Proto’92, what’s special about it? The color scheme and design. It has a powder red base with a white Nike swoosh. However, the real USP of Bucky’s new collection is the Well Off Media insignia: a stylized “OW” with a crown adorned atop the letter “O.” Forging his own path, Sanders Jr. proves you don’t need a helmet to honor the Sanders name.
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