Deion Sanders' influence inside the Colorado locker room gets a big appreciation from football legend Shannon Sharpe: "His players believe in him"

Deion Sanders' critics are in for a long week after his unfancied Colorado Buffaloes beat last season's college football playoff semifinalists, the TCU Horned Frogs in the season opener.

The first pundit to own up was Shannon Sharpe who earlier this year questioned Deion Sanders' decision to bring his sons Shilo and Shedeur with him from Jackson State to Colorado, alleging nepotism.

Shannon Sharpe admitted that Coach Prime has one quality that makes him a huge success.

"He's doing it a different way," said Sharpe. "When you do things a different way, it scares a lot of people because they're used to seeing it that specific way. But you can win a lot of different ways and his players believe in him."

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders put in a stunning performance accounting for 510 passing yards resulting in 4 touchdowns.

Back when Sharpe made the nepotism claims about Shedeur Sanders, Coach Prime had a simple rejoinder for him.

“Ain’t no nepotism, that’s real. Better go get the film and watch. That’s real."

Coach Prime gave his thoughts on the game to Fox Sports afterwards.

"Man, this is a blessing. Everybody, Buff Nation, who supported us, and all the hood that had my back. I thank y'all. God, this is good. We told you we was coming. You thought we were joking? Guess what, we keep the receipts."

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Deion Sanders hits back at the critics

Many pundits and college football insiders criticized Deion Sanders' overhaul of the Colorado roster when he first got the job. The expectation was to see the unique approach fail.

Celebrated college football pundit Lee Corso appearing on ESPN's "College Football GameDay," was one of Deion Sanders' fiercest critics. He argued against the massive overhaul carried out by the charismatic Coach Prime.

"Deion Sanders can do anything he wants to build his program,” Corso said. “I just don’t agree with his tactics."

As expected, after the huge win against TCU, Sanders was in fine form and he called out all the naysayers in his post-game press conference.

"Ain’t none of ya’ll thought you were gonna be sitting up here. Now what? Now what? Everybody quiet now. Now what?"

He even singled out a reporter who had been critical of Colorado's chances going into the season.

"What’s up, boss?" Sanders said. "Do you believe now? I read through that bull-junk you wrote! I sifted through all that. Oh no, come on! Do you believe? You don’t believe."

Although it was a huge win, the hype generated from it means that Coach Prime has to continue winning with so many detractors waiting to pounce on any loss.