Shedeur Sanders says he's always "been against the odds"

Shedeur Sanders will head into the 2024 season as one of the best quarterbacks in college football and as a former four-star recruit, it never felt like anyone doubted his abilities.

Sure, he played in the FCS for his dad, Deion Sanders, at Jackson State for a couple of years before following him to the FBS level at Colorado, but Shedeur was always a highly-regarded player.

In fact, he was the No. 247 overall recruit in the 2021 class and held offers from the likes of Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oregon, and Tennessee, among over a dozen others. He was recruited by a who's who of college football powerhouses before deciding to follow his dad to Jackson State for a couple of years.

So when he came to the FBS level in 2023, it was fair for people to be skeptical if he could carry over that production to a higher level and compete with the big boys. But he did.

But he didn't have a ton of doubters.

At least that's how it seemed, but he felt a different way with his upbringing and playing high school ball at a small private school. He told reporters this week that he always felt that he's always "been against the odds" and that's made him hungry to succeed and prove people wrong.

This feels like a wild statement to me considering Sanders grew up as the son of one of the greatest to ever do it and he was one of the top quarterback recruits in the country in the 2021 class. I get it, though, sometimes people think you're relevant only because of your famous football-playing dad, but he had to prove those people wrong.

But he also took a shot at Texas 6A guys who he says always talked down on him and thought he wasn't going to succeed. He said that he doesn't see them playing ball anywhere nowadays.

I don't know about you, but Sanders saying he's "always been against the odds" feels a lot like Georgia saying "no one thought we'd be here" when the Bulldogs won a second straight national title. It's just manufactured adversity.

But hey, whatever works. He's not a top quarterback in college football for no reason.