Colorado, Deion Sanders a quick winner among Black fans - ESPN

One of Trevon Hamlet's core memories from attending Colorado is living on campus his freshman year and being able to count on one hand how many Black people he would see in a day.

Hamlet, who played lacrosse at Colorado from 2014 to 2019 and still lives in the area, was the only Black person on his team in a school where African American students made up less than 2% of the population.

Four years after Hamlet graduated, Colorado's student makeup doesn't look much different. But football coach Deion Sanders has turned the Boulder campus into an unexpected cultural phenomenon, where the vivacity and early success of the team has forced the attention of even those who don't watch college football, with a lot of support coming from the Black community.

«There's so much Blackness that's involved in this, and it's the biggest story in the country,» Hamlet said. «Although you have standard supporters from CU, you have so many different people that are now getting behind this, and it feels like there's people getting behind the Black community. Deion's really promoting the Black community. I feel like it's our turn.»

Black creators are posting about Colorado football online. Black people all over the country are wearing Buffaloes gear and rooting for the team despite having no connection to Colorado other than pride and support for what Sanders is doing. Kids have tried to peek over the gates near the Buffaloes' practice facility for a glimpse at it all.

Over 7 million people watched the Buffaloes upset national championship runner-up TCU in their season opener Sept. 2, the most-watched college football game that day.

Colorado's first three games of the season rated 77% higher among Black viewers, according to data provided by