Deion Sanders' latest commit Xavier Payne sends 5-word message to his mother after move to Colorado

Deion Sanders scored a significant recruiting victory on Monday when three-star offensive tackle Xavier Payne chose Colorado’s 2026 class over Syracuse. The Jones High School (Orlando, Florida) standout initially committed to Florida State in December but backed off the pledge in June.

Payne also had multiple Power 4 offers, including Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Penn State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, UCF and West Virginia. After announcing his commitment to Colorado, he shared an emotional message dedicated to his mother on X:

"This all for you momma."

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The 6-foot-7, 320-pound prospect spent his junior year at Jones High before transferring to Edison High School in Miami for his senior season. In an interview with Rivals, he shared the reasons behind his commitment to Colorado:

“That’s just where I want to be. Everyone there has been to the league and that’s where I want to go. I want to play as early as possible and that’s the path they see for me.”

Payne is the No. 61 offensive tackle in the nation and the No. 99 recruit in Florida, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

After his official visit to Boulder in June, Payne told Rivals that Colorado’s coaches plan to keep him at tackle and outlined the areas he needs to improve to excel at the position. During that visit, Deion Sanders' staff even highlighted the specific drills that would help address those weaknesses before college.

Payne becomes the second offensive piece in Colorado’s 2026 recruiting class, joining four-star tight end Gavin Mueller. The Buffaloes now have six commitments overall for the cycle, ranking No. 96 in the nation.

Xavier Payne opens up about his connection with Deion Sanders

Colorado offensive line coach Gunnar White extended an offer to Xavier Payne back in May, and since then, Deion Sanders’ staff has kept the interest strong. Unlike many other college coaches, Sanders doesn’t travel to personally recruit players; however, Coach Prime made his pitch to Payne during an official visit in June.

“Yes of course we have connected,” Payne told Rivals following his commitment. “He is a great man.”

Payne also told On3 that he plans to end his recruitment process and officially sign with Deion Sanders’ program in December.

About the author

Maliha is a High School Sports news and listicles writer at Sportskeeda. A post graduate in Management Information Systems, it was her love for writing and sports which led her down the path of sports content creation. An experienced NBA and NFL writer, she covered the two sports extensively at SportsZion and SportsKnot before joining SportsKeeda.

Maliha is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and is in awe of quarterback Lamar Jackson's dual-threat abilities. She also admires Tom Brady and her all-time favorite coach is 3-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid. She is a big advocate of high school sports and believes that elite athletes reach a top level owing to the discipline, hard work, team dynamics, resilience, adaptability and self-confidence learnt by playing sports in high schools. Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay Packers to victory on his debut against the Minnesota Vikings is one of her fondest NFL memories.

Maliha places a high emphasis on accuracy in her content. She does thorough research, always double checks facts, and only uses information from most relevant and credible sources for her articles. When not writing, she likes to read history and biographical books.

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Edited by John Maxwell