Deion Sanders has become more talked about than LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes and made college football Prime Time

The cult of Deion Sanders keeps growing.

His flashy sunglasses have become a national talking point.

Sanders’ completely remade Colorado Buffaloes are a perfect 3-0 to start a new college football season and are ranked No. 19 in the recent Associated Press Top 25 poll.

And after Shedeur Sanders, one of Sanders’ football-playing sons, highlighted a thrilling 43-35 double overtime victory against in-state rival Colorado State last weekend, dad isn’t just the hottest name in college sports – he is again one of the biggest names in American sports.

Yes, this is the same 'Coach Prime' who was already the only athlete to ever play in the NFL Super Bowl and MLB World Series, and is supported by everyone from NBA superstars LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard to rapper Offset.

“They've got Lil Wayne over here, Coach Prime doing his thing. They've got a whole animal running around," said Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, also Deion’s son, while referring to pre-game festivities that included a live buffalo mascot running on the field. “I would've been so scared if I was the other team.”

Sanders Sr was heavily criticised and sometimes vilified after completely remaking the Buffaloes’ roster before the 2023 season.

He's continued to be polarising among college football coaches and fans, despite Colorado's perfect start.

The look-at-me former two-sport superstar -- Sanders was famously (and infamously) known as 'Prime Time' and 'Neon Deion' while playing 188 NFL games and 641 MLB contests – overhauled Colorado’s program, embracing the controversial NCAA transfer portal and the equally controversial Name, Image and Likeness era.

Add in the fact that Sanders jumped upward to Colorado by leaving behind Jackson State University where 'Coach Prime' compiled a 27-6 record in three seasons, and many in the college football world were waiting to watch Sanders fall on his face in 2023.

Through three games, the exact opposite has happened.

Sanders has shone brighter and brighter.

Colorado’s once-struggling football program has received a larger national spotlight than Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, who are off to a sluggish 2-1 start this season and have fallen to No. 13 in the AP poll.

And the super flashy football coach, who once got into it with Tim McCarver and poured an icebucket over the head of the then-national TV broadcaster, has made Colorado football a must watch in 2023.

Last Saturday, the Buffaloes overcame a 28-17 fourth-quarter deficit in a back-and-forth battle that finished on Sunday morning.

Folsom Field was packed over capacity, with a crowd of 53,141 taking part in Sanders' Colorado magic.

The Buffaloes sold out of season tickets in 2023 and have become one of the hottest seats in the sport.

About 100 fans lined up in the early morning Saturday as the pregame buzz built for Sanders' latest creation.

“We showed that we have no surrender or give-up in us,” Sanders said. “They never doubted themselves.”

The next test is a road matchup against No. 10 Oregon.

Big games against No. 5 USC, No. 22 UCLA and No. 14 Oregon State await.

Even the back end of the Buffaloes’ schedule is imposing.

Colorado faces Top 25-ranked Washington State and Utah to close out the regular season.

But Sanders has already easily passed his first test while coaching a program that went a woeful 1-11 last year and had only won 10 games once since 2002.

“Coach Prime” has lifted his Sanders-saturated Buffaloes to the top of the daily sports news cycle in America.

Almost as impressive, Sanders has made Colorado relevant again.

You have to reach back to the 1990s to find the last time that the Buffaloes were seriously regarded on a national scale, with quarterback Kordell Stewart leading the way and Colorado regularly winning bowl games in the Big 8 and Big 12 conferences.

The only thing that could hold Sanders back in 2023 is Colorado’s conference, which will change to the Big 12 next year.

This season, the high-powered Buffaloes are still a member of the Pac 12, which is loaded with college football Top 25 teams while falling apart everywhere else.

When Colorado joined the Big 12, a domino effect followed.

With “Coach Prime” stamping his name all over Buffaloes football, a Sanders Effect has followed.

The six-time All Pro and two-time Super Bowl champion in the NFL – also a speedy outfielder who posted a career .263 batting average while playing for the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves, among others – has built something big, new and impossible to ignore in Boulder, Colo.

Recruits have followed.

Wins have followed.

National coverage, of course, has followed Sanders all the way to Colorado.

If the wins keep coming, the cult of Sanders will keep growing.

College football is changing faster than ever.

Sanders has been ahead of the entire game in 2023.

If Sanders maintains this pace, conquering the NFL from the sideline will be next on endless to-do list for “Coach Prime.”