Shelomi Sanders, the daughter of Colorado Coach Prime, dishes on college basketball, diabetes and flag football

BALTIMORE — Shelomi Sanders belongs to a famous football family. Her father Deion — the Hall of Fame cornerback — is the head coach at Colorado, her brother Shedeur was drafted by the Cleveland Browns and another brother, Shilo, is in camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But Shelomi is not a football player, at least in college. After previous stints with teams at schools where her father coached and brothers played — Jackson State and Colorado — she’s gearing up for her second season with Alabama A&M’s women’s basketball team. She’s a hooper through and through, one that watches the WNBA and considers Dallas Wings’ forward DiJonai Carrington to be her favorite player.

And yet, there Shelomi was last Friday inside the Under Armour Performance Center on Light Street in Charm City, in a two-point stance lined up across from Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews in a friendly but competitive game of head, shoulders, knees, ball. Laughter erupted as Sanders challenged, but ultimately lost to Andrews in front of a few dozen local kids who, like Sanders and Andrews, have diabetes.

Sanders was part of a group of 21 college athletes there that day who signed Name, Image and Likeness deals with Dexcom, a healthcare company that makes continuous glucose monitoring systems for diabetes management. Among the others who signed NIL deals that day were Oregon women’s basketball player Ari Long, UConn softball pitcher Jessica Walter and Miami (Ohio) volleyball player Raegan Lantz.

After facing off with Andrews and running through drills with the kids at the Dexcom U Signing Day Camp, Sanders checked her numbers before sitting down with SB Nation for an interview. Her glucose was low, so her mom grabbed her some Skittles to snack on and a Gatorade to wash them down.

“It’s definitely not for the weak,” Sanders said of being a college athlete with diabetes. “Being diagnosed at a young age and just going through all the adversity, it’s really helped me with responsibility and all of that. Being an athlete with it, it helps to have just a great training staff and coaches and teammates that just support me and that are there for me.”

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Sanders, now 21, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 13. She now wears the Dexcom G7, a continuous glucose monitor that she wears on her arm. It looks like a small patch and it sends real-time glucose numbers to its user’s smartphone and smartwatch.

When she’s playing in a game or practicing, the readouts from Sanders’ monitor also go to her trainers at Alabama A&M. So they can tell in real-time when she needs a break.

“It’s really little. And I hoop, so I bump and all that and it doesn’t come off. The warm-up time is amazing,” Sanders says. “It just makes everything so much easier and simpler to handle.”

When Sanders was in high school and becoming a college athlete a few years ago, there really wasn’t a path for her to follow in the footsteps of her father and brothers to pursue football at the NCAA level. But had women’s flag football infiltrated the college ranks at a faster and wider rate, she might be starring in that sport instead.

Growing up, she played a few seasons of flag football and one year of tackle.

“I feel like, if they had that back when I was playing, it would be over with. I’d be showing my talent as a football player,” Sanders says. “I would definitely be playing, for sure.”

As the sport barrels toward its debut on the international stage at the 2028 Summer Olympics, more colleges are sponsoring women’s flag football as a varsity sport, including Alabama State — which plays in the SWAC along with Sanders’ Alabama A&M.

Back in February, the NCAA recommended adding women’s flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program. Since then, the Division III Atlantic East became the first NCAA league to hold a full season and conference championship for the sport, UT-Arlington announced it will add the sport at the varsity level, and Nebraska AD Troy Dannen expressed his optimism around the sport’s growth too.

“When I scroll on TikTok and I see flag football, I never skip the video. I always watch the videos,” Sanders says. “It’s just so much fun to see the athletic community around it and it’s coming up with women’s sports.”

On the recent boom in growth for women’s sports, Sanders added: “I feel like it’s baby steps, but it’s definitely steps, and I feel like eventually women will get the respect that they deserve.”

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Perhaps there might be an opportunity in the future for Sanders to show off her skills on the gridiron. Sanders does have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining beyond this upcoming season.

But right now she’s focused on her senior campaign with Alabama A&M. Last year, she appeared in 25 games for the Bulldogs. She shined in an off-the-bench performance against Alcorn State, where she had six points, two steals and two rebounds in a victory.

It was a very different experience from her time at Colorado, where she played in just five games.

“I just wanted to venture out and do something for me and just have a chance to play,” Sanders says. “And there’s nothing like an HBCU game. There’s nothing like that atmosphere… And the bands — I love (Alabama A&M) but nothing beats (Jackson State’s) Sonic Boom.”

Last season under first-year head coach Dawn Thornton, the Alabama A&M Bulldogs won a program record 21 games. They also went 14-4 in SWAC play and appeared in the WNIT.

There are expectations for them to have another strong season, but Sanders isn’t trying to look too far into the future.

“I just have a goal to just be better by one percent every single day. Just showing up in practice every day, being there for myself and my teammates, that’s really all I’m worried about,” Sanders says. “We have a great squad. I’m excited to see what the year will hold, but just focusing on the present.”