The words hit different when you realize who was saying them and what he might have been going through at the time. Rapper 2 Chainz recently shared some powerful advice he overheard from Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, and those words now carry extra weight as Coach Prime battles serious health issues that have kept him away from his team all summer.
What Did Deion Sanders Tell His Team About True Strength?
During an appearance on Angie Martinez’s podcast, 2 Chainz revealed what he heard Sanders tell the Colorado team during the 2024-25 season. The coach wasn’t speaking to the rapper directly, but the message stuck with him.
“Last piece of advice I got was at a Colorado football game. It was that last game with Shedeur [Sanders] and Travis [Hunter] and Coach Prime. He wasn’t talking to me. He was actually talking to the team. But I like to learn in every situation, and he said, ‘The strongest person in the room is not the person that can lift the most weight. It’s the person that knows when it’s time to walk away,’” 2 Chainz revealed.
The timing makes this advice particularly striking. Sanders delivered those words during his son Shedeur’s and star player Travis Hunter’s final season at Colorado. However, knowing what Sanders has been dealing with health-wise in 2025, the message takes on a much deeper, more personal meaning.
Sanders has spent the entire summer away from the Colorado program, battling an undisclosed medical issue that has kept him at his Canyon, Texas home. His words about knowing when to walk away now sound less like coaching advice and more like something he might be wrestling with himself.
How Have Sanders’ Health Problems Affected His Coaching?
Sanders’ health battle isn’t new, but it has reached a critical point in 2025. He has dealt with serious blood clot issues for years, including surgeries in 2021 that resulted in the amputation of his left big toe and second toe. His family history makes him particularly susceptible to these dangerous clots, creating ongoing medical concerns that affect his daily life.
The current health crisis began after Colorado’s spring game on April 19, 2025. Since then, Sanders has been forced to miss crucial team activities during what should be one of the most important periods for college football programs.
He couldn’t attend the required youth and high school football camps in June, missing out on key recruiting opportunities. Sanders also had to cancel a last-minute speaking engagement at a Florida Sickle Cell Disease symposium on June 8, showing how his health issues continue to disrupt his professional commitments.
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In late May, Sanders opened up about the severity of his current situation, revealing he had “lost about 14 pounds” and describing his condition as being “at a whole ‘nother level.’” Even as recently as July, he admitted “I’m still going through something” and “I ain’t all the way recovered.”
These ongoing health challenges have created a difficult situation for both Sanders and the Colorado program. The physical demands of college coaching, combined with his serious medical issues, may be forcing him to consider whether his own advice about knowing when to walk away applies to his current situation.
The advice 2 Chainz heard that day now carries weight beyond the locker room. Sanders told his team that true strength comes from recognizing when it’s time to step back, and as he faces his own crossroads with declining health and the intense demands of major college football, those words may prove prophetic about his own future in Boulder.