There were so many wild moments around the Big 12 in Week 11 that it’s hard to keep up with everything that happened.
From Mark Harlan’s comments after the BYU-Utah game to the American Flag controversy that surfaced ahead of the Colorado-Texas Tech game, plenty of things grabbed the storylines off the field.
However, one of the wildest things that I saw this weekend was the short scuffle between a Texas Tech ball boy and Deion Sanders’ oldest son, Deion Sanders Jr.
Colorado safety Shilo Sanders put the finishing touches on the Buffaloes’ 41-27 win with a scoop-and-score touchdown in the final minute of the game and proceeded to do his father’s signature touchdown dance in the endzone.
It was yet another viral moment for the Buffs, who’ve become one of the most fascinating stories in college football after moving to 7-2 (5-1) on the year.
However, what happened as Shilo returned to the sideline is something that is likely to steal the moment from him, courtesy of his older brother.
A Texas Tech ball boy’s job is simple: keep track of the team footballs and make sure they’re all accounted for. In his attempt to recover the ball from Shilo Sanders, the ball boy nearly started a feud with the entire Sanders family.
Here’s a look at the exchange (Warning: NSFW Language).
“Why don’t you get your [expletive] on, [expletive],” Sanders Jr. said, shoving the ball boy. “You [expletive]-ed up, [expletive].”
“Junior” isn’t a part of the team, but does produce behind-the-scenes content for Colorado football via his YouTube page, “Well Off Media,” which has just under 500,000 subscribers.
Could the Red Raiders’ ball boy have waited for a better time to ask for the ball back? Sure, but his attempt to retrieve the ball wasn’t outside the scope of his duties — it’s his job. I’ve got to give him credit, though. It takes a lot of patience to deal with the situation the way that he did.
You can even see him say, “C’mon man,” after Shilo scraps to get the ball back and gives him a look as he walks away. Shedeur even realizes that things went too far when he tries to get between the ball boy and his 5-foot-7 aggressor.
How the camera boy — a 30-year-old man — reacted was outside the scope of his duty, and candidly, it’s a bad look for the Sanders family.
It was clear that the misunderstanding fired up both Shilo and Shedeur, and their handling of it was acceptable, given the situation.
However, Junior’s reaction was way over the top, and he needs to be held to a higher standard, given his position as the oldest brother and someone that players probably look up to—well, figuratively speaking.
