Jan 30, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; West defensive back Shilo Sanders of Colorado (21) drops into cover against the East during the first half at AT&T Stadium. Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
College FootballNFLPoliticsBy Sam Neumann on

Shilo Sanders might have more in common with politicians than people realize.

He has a knack for making headlines, benefits from a well-known family name and operates in the shadow of his father and siblings. But that makes him sound more like Jeb Bush than it does Donald Trump or Joe Biden, for that matter. And while Sanders didn’t directly compare himself to the 45th and 47th President of the United States following the Shrine Bowl, pretty much everyone knew who he was referring to.

That would be Trump.

After clips of him getting beat in coverage during the Shrine Bowl practices went viral on social media, Sanders alleged that they were cherry-picked to make him look bad, akin to a certain someone.

Sanders seemingly bounced back to have a strong showing once the Shrine Bowl was actually played.

And he made sure to address the “haters” in a postgame interaction with a reporter.

Sound familiar?

“If you just hate me or want to hate me,” Sanders said before the clip inexplicably jumps. “…Paint me in a bad picture; they do that to our President. They do that to everybody, you know? So I’m not going to be safe from it. But it does get aggravating whenever you put in that work, and you’re working on your craft, and [there’s] people just steadily destroying you.

“I just care about what the scouts think. I care about what Coach Prime thinks, what my family thinks, and I got a good circle around me, so I really don’t let that stuff affect me. It’s just really stupid how people always try to destroy you, and I don’t do nothing bad to nobody.”

Sanders added that the aforementioned clips were “cherry-picked ” and that scouts will consider his performance in the Shrine Bowl and this past season at Colorado.

Like Trump, Sanders thrives in the spotlight, battles his critics, and insists the system is rigged against him, but whether that narrative helps him at the next level is a different story.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann