Shilo Deion Sanders (born February 9, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

, Jackson State Tigers and

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado Boulder. The university sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden ...

. Sanders is the son of

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cornerback and Colorado head coach

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American American football, football coach with the Colorado Buffaloes football, Colorado Buffaloes. Sanders is also a former professional football and baseball player, having played in the N ...

Early life

Sanders is the oldest child of Deion and Pilar Sanders. His parents are divorced. He has two older half-siblings: Deiondra and Deion, and two younger siblings, Shedeur and Shelomi. Sanders attended Trinity Christian High School in

Cedar Hill, Texas Cedar Hill is a city in Dallas and Ellis counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located approximately southwest of downtown Dallas and is situated along the eastern shore of Joe Pool Lake and Cedar Hill State Park. Per the 2020 United St ...

, where he played safety, wide receiver and return specialist. His father was the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian High School throughout his son's high school career. In his high-school career, he recorded 24 tackles, one pass deflection, five interceptions, and a fumble recovery, rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown, and hauled in 13 receptions for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Sanders committed to play

at the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

over offers from 14 other schools.

College career

South Carolina

As a

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at South Carolina in 2019, Sanders recorded two tackles and a fumble recovery. In week four of the 2020 season, he made ten tackles in a win over Auburn. Sanders finished the shortened 2020 season with 32 tackles with one going for a loss, and a pass deflection. After the season, he entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

Jackson State

Sanders transferred to Jackson State to continue his collegiate career. In his first season with the Tigers in 2021 he notched 39 tackles, seven pass deflections, two forced fumble, and four interceptions which was tied for second in the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

(SWAC). For his performance on the season, Sanders was named second-team all-SWAC. In 2022, he suffered an ACL injury which caused him to only play in seven games, where he recorded 20 tackles and an interception. After the season, Sanders entered the NCAA transfer portal for the second time in his career.

Colorado

Sanders transferred to

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

to join his father and brother. In his team debut, he tallied ten tackles and helped the Buffaloes upset #17

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

. In week three, Sanders had an 80-yard pick-six for Colorado's first score of the game and forced a fumble, helping Colorado beat their rival Colorado State.

Statistics

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2025 NFL draft The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...

, Sanders signed with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Personal life

Sanders' younger brother, Shedeur, was drafted in the 5th round of the 2025 NFL draft by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

. An October 2016 lawsuit filed in Dallas District Court alleged Sanders attacked a security officer. Following a dispute about Sanders disrupting a high school class, John Darjean claimed Sanders slammed his elbow into Darjean's chest and continued to hit Darjean after he fell. The case went to trial in 2022, but Sanders did not appear for the trial. Therefore, a default judgment was entered against Sanders. The court ordered Sanders to pay Darjean $11.89 million. In October 2023, Sanders filed for bankruptcy, declaring he had $11.3 million in liabilities, including the court judgment against him. The bankruptcy petition stated Sanders had $478,000 in assets, including a 2023 Mercedes valued at $75,900 and necklaces valued at $75,000. Sanders’ attorney amended the petition in December 2023 to reduce the value of his assets to $320,000. This reduction included the removal of the high-value necklaces from the list of assets as they were alleged to have been on loan pursuant to an NIL deal with Saki Diamonds. Darjean is currently contesting the bankruptcy filing, alleging Sanders transferred funds received from NIL deals to his company, Big 21, LLC, as a way to improperly shield his assets from the judgment he obtained against Sanders personally. Sanders has admitted he did not disclose several social media NIL deals and that he is the sole owner of Big 21 LLC and SS21 LLC, but denied improperly failing to disclose contracts with those companies related to his NIL deals. There were at least five investigations into the Sanders-Darjean incident. A 2024 examination by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' of those investigations reported that four of them "favored John Darjean". The fifth "initially sided" with Sanders, but after additional information surfaced, the investigators changed their position and decided that fault for the incident simply was "unable to be determined".

References

External links

Tampa Bay Buccaneers bioColorado Buffaloes profileJackson State Tigers profileSouth Carolina Gamecocks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Shilo 2000 births Living people Players of American football from Tyler, Texas American football safeties South Carolina Gamecocks football players Jackson State Tigers football players Colorado Buffaloes football players 21st-century African-American sportsmen Tampa Bay Buccaneers players