Broncos QB Russell Wilson gets caught up with Deion Sanders effect as he celebrates Halloweekend in style

Colorado coach Deion Sanders has effortlessly straddled different generations and is currently making a strong return to popular culture.

Coach Prime's son and the Buffaloes quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, made headlines when celebrities started miming his watch celebration. The gravitas given to him as a cultural symbol is primarily down to his iconic Pro Football Hall of Fame father.

The latest celebrity to embrace the Deion Sanders effect is Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson. He shared a picture of himself during the team's Halloween party dressed as Coach Prime in a white hoodie, sunglasses, gold chain and black cowboy hat. Wilson captioned the post:

"Coach Prime in the House Recruitin’ 😂🤣😎 #PlayMyThemeMusic"

Even Colorado couldn't help but admire Wilson's Halloween costume:

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The full scale of the Deion Sanders effect

In the past few weeks, the mania surrounding Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes has faded to some extent due to their loss of form, which has resulted in four defeats in their last five games.

But that has not diminished the Deion Sanders effect.

Against the UCLA Bruins during week eight of college football action, the Buffs attracted the highest attendance (71,343) at the Rose Bowl in coach Chip Kelly's tenure as UCLA coach.

Dr. Charles McClelland, the Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner talked about the extent of the Deion Sanders effect for the whole conference.

McClelland revealed his thoughts during a Q&A with ESPN play-by-play announcer Tiffany Greene.

"I had the opportunity to talk to him [Sanders] actually before the TCU game," Dr. McClelland said. "He still sends his congratulations to what the Southwestern Athletic Conference has done. Coach Prime is someone that gave us a lot of notoriety.

"Our job is to continue again with a great product. When Shedeur Sanders said, 'I didn't throw for that many years within the Southwest Athletic Conference,' that said a lot. That said, who we are."

This season, attendance has dropped in the conference after Coach Prime departed for the FBS.

For the first time in Colorado football history, the program sold out the home ticket allocation by mid-September.

Andscape editor Marcus Matthews highlighted the effect that Deion Sanders has had on the Black community following college football.

“Nobody was really paying attention to Colorado,” Matthews said. “Colorado hasn’t really been good since they had Kordell Stewart and their national championship days. Black folks weren’t checking for Colorado, but now you see people like Lil Wayne and Wu-Tang coming out.

“It’s kind of like the hip place to be. A lot of people are comparing it to the 80s and early 90s Georgetown teams that were like ‘Black America’s Team.’”

The Coach Prime effect has manifested in impossibly high television ratings, fan mania, social media hysteria and celebrity culture, rejuvenating a middling football program.