“Got it from Old McDonald”: Deion Sanders reveals the shocking truth behind the spelling of his name

Deion Sanders’ Colorado squad is coming off a 37-20 win over Wyoming last weekend, improving its record to 2-2. The Buffaloes wrapped up non-conference play at 2-1 and now shift their attention to Big 12 competition.

On Monday, Coach Prime made headlines for a different reason, as he revealed that people have been misspelling his name for decades. During his appearance on the “New Heights” podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, Sanders explained the unique story behind his spelling.

“Let me tell you what I did,” Sanders said. “See, you had kids going to school learning how to spell. And we all learned the song. If I say the first part, you have to finish the second part. Old Macdonald had a farm. Farm. Ei.

“So it was D E I O N. I got it from Old McDonald. What is it? feel that. I That's the way I spell it. Oh, my birth certificate is D I O N, but I've always spelled it D E I O N.”

Coach Prime's children have followed his version of “Deion” as well: his eldest daughter goes by Deiondra Sanders, and his eldest son is Deion Sanders Jr.

Deion Sanders earns high praise from Colorado's upcoming rival

Following the win against Wyoming in Week 4, Deion Sanders’ Colorado is now facing a tough stretch with three straight games against ranked opponents: No. 25 BYU on Sept. 27, a road game at No. 24 TCU on Oct. 4, and No. 14 Iowa State on Oct. 11.

Leading into the Week 5 clash, BYU coach Kalani Sitake expressed his admiration for Sanders.

"I think Coach Prime would tell you that in our relationship, I have tons of respect and admiration for him and what he's done as a coach and as a father and as a disciple of Christ," Sitake said (via SI).

“We see on film that they have tons of talent. We're at their place now, so it's gonna be a difficult environment to play in. I'm looking forward to the matchup and looking forward to seeing my friend Coach Prime again."

BYU enters the Week 5 contest after a 34-13 win at East Carolina last weekend, improving to 3-0. While the Cougars are still unbeaten, this will mark their first conference game of the season.

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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