Before the Colorado Buffaloes face their biggest test of the 2023 football season so far, head coach Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders addressed the media, speaking about the death threats against Colorado State safety Henry Blackburn.

Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell said on Monday that Blackburn has been receiving death threats since his late hit that hospitalized Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter. According to media reports, Hunter suffered a lacerated liver and will be out for a few weeks.

Blackburn drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty Saturday night for the blow he delivered to Hunter's midsection on a deep pass in the first quarter of the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

"Henry Blackburn is a good player who played a phenomenal game. He made a tremendous hit on Travis on the sideline. You can call it dirty, you can call it he was just playing the game of football," Sanders said Tuesday. "But whatever it was it does not constitute that he should be receiving death threats.

READ MORE: https://www.9news.com/article/sports/ncaa/ncaaf/deion-sanders-cu-buffaloes-coach-press-conference-boulder-colorado-oregon-ducks/73-2e58e942-5cc4-4fac-94a5-78bad4ab6d6c

Sanders and the 19th-ranked Buffs travel to Eugene on Saturday to face the 10th-ranked Oregon Ducks. Saturday's matchup serves as Sanders’ first conference contest in the Pac-12 Conference.

The Colorado football team is the biggest story in sports and will be showcased on national television for a fourth straight week. The Week 4 game will kickoff at 1:30 p.m. MT and will be televised nationally on ABC.

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