Justin Ford/Getty Images

Deion Sanders is catching heat for saying he recruits offensive players from 2-parent households.

The first-year Colorado Buffaloes head coach explained his recruiting strategy in a recent interview. Sanders said his quarterbacks must be from a 2-parent home and smart.

“Well, we have different attributes. Smart, tough, fast, disciplined with character. Now, quarterbacks are different,” Sanders said during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.”

“We want mother, father. Dual parent. We want that kid to be 3.5 [grade point average] and up, because he’s got to be smart. Not bad decisions off the field at all. Because he has to be a leader of men,” he said.

Sanders wants the same attributes in his offensive linemen who flank the quarterback.

However, Sanders has a different strategy for recruiting defensive linemen. The father-of-five said he prefers his defensive linemen to come from a broken home, led by single mothers. Sanders wants his linemen to be hungry with a bad attitude.

“Defensive linemen is totally opposite. Single mama, trying to get it; he’s on free lunch,” Sanders continued. “I’m talking about just trying to make it. He’s trying to rescue mama. Like mama barely made the flight. And I want him to just go get it.”

He added: “It’s a whole different attribute that you look for in different positions. And we have that stuff just chronicled. We know what we want, and we go get it.”
 

YouTube video

Sanders’ comments sparked debate on social media.

One person tweeted:

“Coming from a single parent home where my mom was trash, made me want to fight more to have a better life. So I don’t take offense to Deion comment hell .. it’s not the fact y’all don’t like his comment its the way he said it! #DeionSanders.”