- NCAA. Steve Sarkisian arrived at the University of Texas to stay: "I have the best job in America"
- Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen gets ultimate consolation prize after painful playoff loss to Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs
Deion Sanders and Bill Belichick are polar opposites of football. Now that Belichick is about to begin his NCAA tenure, analysts and fans are starting to compare the two, speculating which style will prove more successful in the cutthroat world of college recruiting.
Coach Prime has always been known for his outgoing personality and outspoken nature. Belichick, on the other hand, is almost a hermit who shuns with the media and fans. Sanders has never worked as an assistant coach in the NFL or NCAA. Belichick has 50 years of experience in every position imaginable.
According to Fox Sports analyst RJ Young, Sanders' open and unorthodox style, plus his use of modern communication tools, could give him a definitive advantage over the six-time Super Bowl champion's more traditional approach.
Sanders and his technological approach
On the most recent episode of The Number One College Football Show, Young recalled that Sandersis from a different breed of coach, comparing him to the legendary Nick Saban, who was a master at visiting his prospects and sealing recruiting deals in their living rooms.
"Because that's how he learned how to do this back in the 70s and 80s and 90s," Young stated Sanders, on the other hand, even boasts that he has never and will never go to the homes of his potential recruits. "Prime is not that era of coaching," Young explained, "I keep trying to tell people Prime is the rare college football head coach who was never a college assistant at any stretch."
Sanders prefers to interview his prospects via teleconference rather than travel to their homes, so as not to waste valuable resources at the University of Colorado. That approach has allowed him to recruit players of the caliber of Joseph Williams, Makari Vickers, and five-star prospect Julian "JuJu" Lewis for next season.
Belichick is as old-school as it can get
The new North Carolina Tar Heels coach can't deny his legacy. Despite being one of the most recognizable faces in the NFL, Belichick still hits the road to talk to prospects "Because he does not have the social cache that Deion Sanders has," Young explained.
But that doesn't mean Belichick will fail as a recruiter. Since taking over at UNC, the former New England Patriots coach has added 18 recruits, following his long-standing mantra of focusing more on character than measurables.
Belichick and Sanders won't meet on the field this season. However, we will soon find out which approach was more successful: Belichick's traditional method or Coach Prime's unorthodox style. The bets are open.