BOULDER — Robert Livingston hadn’t seen Deion Sanders in months.

The Colorado defensive coordinator, Livingston last week spoke to Sanders in a face-to-face setting for the first time this offseason. Before Livingston could get a word out, the 57-year-old who had just returned to campus after beating bladder cancer was asking Livingston about his family.

Livingston told Coach Prime about his son, Luke, who was playing baseball this summer and Sanders, who played parts of nine MLB seasons, immediately got into his old hitting stance and asked how Livingston’s son was doing.

“It’s just a testament to who he is,” Livingston said. “Obviously, his leadership is one-of-one. We’re blessed.”

It’s safe to say CU is happy to have Sanders, the person, back with the program as much, if not more, than Sanders, the coach.

Junior defensive back Carter Stoutmire was thrilled to see “family” looking like his normal self.

“It hit different for me because that’s like family to me,” Stoutmire said. “It was real genuine concern because that’s like an uncle to me. … But I knew God got him at the end of the day because he’s been through so much in his past, stuff like this. Whatever hardships, trials goes through, he always make it through. Just seeing him back, it was a breath of fresh air for the whole team.”

Stoutmire’s father, Omar, played two seasons alongside Sanders with the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1990s and the two have remained friends. Carter says Coach Prime has been in his life since he was born. He was a part of Sanders’ first high school recruiting class and is heading into year three as a key player on the defense.

But his reaction was actually more common than he might have thought.

“Scared, I think like everybody,” Livingston said of his initial emotions. “We’re talking about a life here. This football stuff doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. It’s a testament to who he is. He keeps a tight inner circle. He was away and we were working and just knowing that when he comes back, he’s gonna hit the ground running.”

That’s what happened. While Coach Prime was eager to catch up with his staff on their personal lives when he got back to Boulder, he was also eager to prepare for an important 2025 campaign — one with raised expectations after last year’s nine-win season and Alamo Bowl berth.

There was never any doubt the man most responsible for the rapid turnaround in Boulder was returning to build a sustained winner at CU.

“We know the guy (and) what he’s already been through. We knew he’d be here (for) day one,” Livingston said. “It’s our job, obviously, in the summer — player-acquisition period is already (over) — to get the best out of the guys when we can. Can’t say enough about the strength staff. I think they’ve done a phenomenal job.

“When you’re a phenomenal leader, as Coach Prime is, you establish a culture (and) a situation where people just go to work.”

The list: 5 sleepers to watch in the Power 4 conferences

Last week, we highlighted the top four contenders in each Power 4 conference. Now we dive deeper and look at five College Football Playoff sleepers:

1. Oklahoma

The Sooners believe they have the next Cam Ward — and they went to the same school to find him. Oklahoma made one of the biggest transfer additions of the offseason, adding Washington State quarterback John Mateer after he threw for over 3,100 yards and rushed for over 800 yards to go with 44 total touchdowns in his first year as the full-time starter in Pullman. Just like Ward at Miami last year, the Sooners are hoping Mateer can make a similar jump up to the Power 4 level and have the same production. If Mateer can come close to replicating Ward’s season as a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2024, that will go a long way toward helping OU bounce back after last year’s disappointing 6-7 campaign.

2. Illinois

Everyone is searching for this year’s Indiana. Well, stay in the same conference and look one state over. The Illini won 10 games in 2024 for the second time this century and first time since 2001. Now, they return one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten in Luke Altmyer, while coach Bret Bielema continues to build in the trenches with a veteran offensive and defensive line that have laid the foundation for winning football in Champaign.

3. Baylor

The term “sleeper” shouldn’t really apply to a conference like the Big 12, where the team that won the league last year was picked last in the preseason media poll, but the Bears are slightly under the radar heading into 2025. People might not realize just how good this team is. It starts at the top with coach Dave Aranda, who saved his job a year ago by winning eight games for just the second time in his five-year tenure in Waco. But the real reason to believe in Baylor is quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who might be one of the top-10 players at his position nationally and is a sleeper Heisman bet.

4. Georgia Tech

Yes, that’s right, the team that comes to Folsom Field for a Friday night season opener will provide a tough test right away for Coach Prime’s team. The Yellow Jackets are “gamers” who knocked off then-unbeaten Miami last season and took in-state rival Georgia to the wire (eight overtimes) in Athens. Haynes King is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the country and his backfield partner, running back Jamal Haynes, is enough to carry one of the better offenses in the ACC. It’s all about defensive improvement for Brent Key’s team.

5. South Carolina

The Gamecocks fit the mold of all other four teams on this list — solid 2024 season and excellent quarterback — but are arguably the most intriguing. In the most wide-open SEC in years, is LaNorris Sellers good enough to single-handedly get South Carolina into conference title contention? There are those who think the Gamecocks’ QB is a potential No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL draft. This could be the breakout year coach Shane Beamer has building toward since he arrived in Columbia.

Quotable

“I call it quarterback development. We’ll develop a plan — who plays and when — once we get to the game. Right now, as we go through the installation (of the offense), we demand that they all learn everything that we’re doing. I see good progress each day. The way this thing works is especially the first eight days (of fall camp), you have like eight installations, so as you can imagine, in the meeting room setting or academic setting, you teach ‘em something, they go out and practice. The next day, we teach ’em something new and then they gotta go back and review because now the two installs apply to that practice and then three and so on. It’s a process. They’re both very, very smart guys. JuJu (Lewis) is obviously much younger, so there’s processes a little bit foreign to him, but Kaidon has got a lot of experience and he’s used to it. I think they’re both doing extremely well.” — CU Buffs offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur on the first few days of the QB battle between Kaidon Salter and Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis