The Win That Blessed Coach Prime Most: Santana Hopper Took His Son To The Fair
October 16, 2026 | Football
BOULDER — Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders had just finished running through what Santana Hopper did to Texas Tech — 10 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries, the best game of his Colorado career — when he set the box score aside.
"Last week he played out of his mind, OK? Tremendous football," Coach Prime said Tuesday. "But guess what has blessed me the most out of everything he's done this year?"
It happened during the bye week, a thousand miles from Folsom Field.
"Took his kid to the fair last week — alone," Coach Prime said. "No assistants, no associates, no family members. Took his son to the fair, and they had a great time."
Coach Prime had asked about the rides. There was a carousel, he said, and Hopper didn't get on it with his son. He stood off to the side like he was the boss and let the boy go up and down, disappearing for about 30 seconds before circling back around.
"That's what has blessed me," Coach Prime said. "Instead of sitting here thinking about it, he got on the plane and took his butt to the crib and spent time with his son. So to me, that's a win."
The crib is Shelby, N.C., and the boy is 7. He started second grade this fall. Hopper, a fifth-year defensive lineman who came to Colorado by way of Appalachian State and Tulane, had him young, and he has never talked about his son as anything other than the reason the work gets done.
"I kind of grew up with him, in a sense," Hopper said during fall camp. "Just seeing how we both grew — when I wake up and it's time to do things and just work, I think of him, and it's kind of a lot easier to just put the hat on and get to work. Because I know what me and him done came from. I know what we done had to do to get to this point. So it's just a great driving force."
The bye week gave him the first real chance since August to put the hat down.
"It was just good to get away from Colorado," Hopper said Tuesday. "I ain't ever been in a place like this before, so it's just different than home. When I get home, it just feels good to be around my family and see the things that I'm used to seeing, and just be around my son a lot. It's just nice to get away for real — like, away from football, not think about football, just being yourself."
He came back to a locker room still talking about the Texas Tech game, and he would rather it didn't.
"I pretty much try to flush that game," Hopper said. "I'm tired of hearing about that game. I'm ready to play somebody else. So just try to take the energy I had in that game and put it towards the next opponents I have coming up."
Coach Prime isn't letting it go that easily. He said he challenged Hopper personally to make that performance the standard, not the exception.
"He was challenged by me personally to play like that every darn game," Coach Prime said. "Not just the team he was a little upset with. He's gonna ball out every game now. I promise you that."
Hopper's teammates on the defensive line have taken the challenge as an invitation.
"They love talking smack to me a lot in the room since that game," he said. "They're like, 'He ain't going to do it again. We going to do this. We going to do that.' So I'm guessing this week we going to see either Dylan, T-Mo or Samu do the same thing. So y'all just be watching out for them."
That the Buffaloes' leader in tackles for loss would rather talk up Dylan Manuel, Tyler Moore and Samu Taumanupepe than himself fits the player his position coach described in August.
"Hop is a pro," Dante Carter said then. "He's going to be a pro."
The pro's performance, as Coach Prime called it, came in a loss, and Hopper's focus heading into Utah is on the part of the game Colorado has not finished. He doesn't want to blame the snap count or the offense for the fourth-quarter breakdowns.
"I ain't going to say either," Hopper said. "I feel like just in the fourth quarter, we just let off. So we've been doing a lot of things — practice harder later in practice. This week we should come out and play all four quarters. That's all I want to see us do."
Four quarters, he said, is nothing compared to what Andreu Swasey's strength staff has put them through.
"We got Swasey. We're training for this," Hopper said. "We've done way worse stuff than play four quarters of a game."
Coach Prime's definition of success, offered to a fan's question Tuesday, started with winning and ended with the men his players are becoming — the ones who come back months later and tell him they finally understand something he told them.
Hopper, he said, didn't need to be told.
"This man's a father," Coach Prime said. "That's a win."
"Last week he played out of his mind, OK? Tremendous football," Coach Prime said Tuesday. "But guess what has blessed me the most out of everything he's done this year?"
It happened during the bye week, a thousand miles from Folsom Field.
"Took his kid to the fair last week — alone," Coach Prime said. "No assistants, no associates, no family members. Took his son to the fair, and they had a great time."
Coach Prime had asked about the rides. There was a carousel, he said, and Hopper didn't get on it with his son. He stood off to the side like he was the boss and let the boy go up and down, disappearing for about 30 seconds before circling back around.
"That's what has blessed me," Coach Prime said. "Instead of sitting here thinking about it, he got on the plane and took his butt to the crib and spent time with his son. So to me, that's a win."
The crib is Shelby, N.C., and the boy is 7. He started second grade this fall. Hopper, a fifth-year defensive lineman who came to Colorado by way of Appalachian State and Tulane, had him young, and he has never talked about his son as anything other than the reason the work gets done.
"I kind of grew up with him, in a sense," Hopper said during fall camp. "Just seeing how we both grew — when I wake up and it's time to do things and just work, I think of him, and it's kind of a lot easier to just put the hat on and get to work. Because I know what me and him done came from. I know what we done had to do to get to this point. So it's just a great driving force."
The bye week gave him the first real chance since August to put the hat down.
"It was just good to get away from Colorado," Hopper said Tuesday. "I ain't ever been in a place like this before, so it's just different than home. When I get home, it just feels good to be around my family and see the things that I'm used to seeing, and just be around my son a lot. It's just nice to get away for real — like, away from football, not think about football, just being yourself."
He came back to a locker room still talking about the Texas Tech game, and he would rather it didn't.
"I pretty much try to flush that game," Hopper said. "I'm tired of hearing about that game. I'm ready to play somebody else. So just try to take the energy I had in that game and put it towards the next opponents I have coming up."
Coach Prime isn't letting it go that easily. He said he challenged Hopper personally to make that performance the standard, not the exception.
"He was challenged by me personally to play like that every darn game," Coach Prime said. "Not just the team he was a little upset with. He's gonna ball out every game now. I promise you that."
Hopper's teammates on the defensive line have taken the challenge as an invitation.
"They love talking smack to me a lot in the room since that game," he said. "They're like, 'He ain't going to do it again. We going to do this. We going to do that.' So I'm guessing this week we going to see either Dylan, T-Mo or Samu do the same thing. So y'all just be watching out for them."
That the Buffaloes' leader in tackles for loss would rather talk up Dylan Manuel, Tyler Moore and Samu Taumanupepe than himself fits the player his position coach described in August.
"Hop is a pro," Dante Carter said then. "He's going to be a pro."
The pro's performance, as Coach Prime called it, came in a loss, and Hopper's focus heading into Utah is on the part of the game Colorado has not finished. He doesn't want to blame the snap count or the offense for the fourth-quarter breakdowns.
"I ain't going to say either," Hopper said. "I feel like just in the fourth quarter, we just let off. So we've been doing a lot of things — practice harder later in practice. This week we should come out and play all four quarters. That's all I want to see us do."
Four quarters, he said, is nothing compared to what Andreu Swasey's strength staff has put them through.
"We got Swasey. We're training for this," Hopper said. "We've done way worse stuff than play four quarters of a game."
Coach Prime's definition of success, offered to a fan's question Tuesday, started with winning and ended with the men his players are becoming — the ones who come back months later and tell him they finally understand something he told them.
Hopper, he said, didn't need to be told.
"This man's a father," Coach Prime said. "That's a win."
Players Mentioned
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