Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders had a tense exchange with a reporter during media day on Aug. 9. Sanders made it clear that he was not fond of some of Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler's coverage of him and the Buffaloes football program in the past.

"You don’t like us, man. Why do you do this to yourself?" Sanders asked Keeler at one point during the press conference. "No, I’m serious. Why do you do this? Like you know you don’t. Like, why do you do this?"

Two weeks after the back and forth, Colorado announced that Keeler would no longer be permitted to direct questions at Sanders or anyone else involved with the football program.

The decision sparked some backlash, but ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard came to Sanders' defense and argued the restrictions were placed on the columnist in an effort to protect the head football coach's and the player's mental health.

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"When I first heard the story, the first thing that popped into my head was how we talk about protecting your mental health," Howard said on ESPN's "Get Up," via On3 Sports. "I don’t know if people realize that Deion Sanders is a human being who has spoken openly about trying to commit suicide before. 

"So, when you have a person who is an advocate for mental health, who not only wants to protect his mental health but the number one job of a coach is to protect the mental health of his players too, because you always want to treat all of your players like they’re your sons."

DEION SANDERS WARNS REPORTERS AGAINST NEGATIVE COVERAGE AFTER BARRING WRITER FROM ASKING QUESTIONS

Howard cited Keeler's approach to his previous coverage of Sanders when he offered his thoughts on what he believed contributed to the Pro Football Hall of Famer wanting the columnist away from the media room.

"So, with that being said, if Deion Sanders believes that this guy who is using words like ‘false prophet’ and things of that nature, which they seem kind of personal to me, and they decide to not answer questions from him anymore. I don’t have an issue with it because I think he has to do what he believes [is] best suited for his own mental health and the mental health of his players."

Howard's colleague, ESPN college football pundit Paul Finebaum, had a different opinion of Sanders and the university's decision to prevent Keeler from asking questions for the foreseeable future. Finebaum scolded Sanders and accused the coach of being a "bully and a "hypocrite." 

"Coach Prime is showing he is not ready for primetime," Finebaum said on ESPN earlier this week. "I find this whole thing to be disgraceful. Deion may want to talk about love and joy and that’s the cornerstone of what he seems to be spewing out. But treating reporters like this seems like we’re in some autocratic country. This is not America. The fact that it’s in his contract is really even more absurd."

"But don’t forget – he did this at Jackson State. This is a trait of Deion Sanders. He wants to have it his way. I find him to be a bully and a hypocrite. And quite frankly, as someone who has been a fan of his throughout his entire career, even at Colorado, I am mortified by his actions."

The university described some of Keeler's past coverage as "personal attacks on the football program."

"After a series of sustained, personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime, the CU Athletic Department in conjunction with the football program, have decided not to take questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler at football-related events," the athletic department said in a statement obtained by ESPN. 

Howard pushed back against the idea that it would have been better if Colorado quietly stopped accepting questions from Keeler, instead of issuing a public statement about their decision.

"So, the one thing I saw [Adam] Schefter say and I saw Stephen A. [Smith] say too, was that they shouldn’t have made an announcement, but it’s going to come out anyway because people are going to notice that you’re not taking this one individual’s questions. So, as opposed to deal with all of that down the road, maybe two or three weeks later when it’s been noticeable that you haven’t answered this one reporter’s questions, you can put it out there now so everybody knows," Howard said.

Colorado officials added that the reporter's access to "football-related activities" remains intact, and his colleagues from the newspaper are free to direct questions to the Buffaloes' head coach.

"Keeler is still permitted to attend football-related activities as a credentialed member of the media and other reporters from The Denver Post are welcome to ask questions of football program personnel made available to the media, including coaches, players and staff."

Keeler published a column shortly after the exchange with Sanders, which said the coach was "a confident man who suddenly looked and acted and sounded... afraid."

The Denver Post said that Sanders' contract states that he only has to talk to "mutually agreed-upon media."

Colorado finished the 2023 campaign with a 4-8 record. Sanders hopes to improve on that record this year. The Buffaloes will host North Dakota State on Aug. 31 to open the 2024 season.

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The Trump campaign on Tuesday pushed back against a narrative within the media that Vice President Kamala Harris is taking a more positive approach to border wall construction — calling such a claim "preposterous."

"How much longer will the mainstream media allow Kamala Harris to hide and use staff to speak on her behalf?" Karoline Leavitt, National Press Secretary for the Trump campaign said in a statement. "It’s DAY 37 of ZERO interviews and Kamala’s anonymous campaign sources are now claiming she supports President Trump’s border wall — this is a preposterous and false claim."

Axios ran a headline on Tuesday morning that accused Harris of a "flip flop" on border wall construction. It noted Harris’ support of a bipartisan border security bill introduced in January. The bill pushes funding to the border, while also authorizing limits on asylum entries.

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The package, which has the support of the Biden administration but has so far failed to drum up enough Republican support to pass the chamber, also includes a limited amount of funding for additional border wall construction, but it is just a fraction of the $25 billion former President Trump eyed for the project.

While Harris, along with President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have consistently backed the bill, Axios said that her recent speech at the Democratic National Convention in which she said she would sign the bill was a sign of her embracing a more hawkish immigration policy.

"Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you. As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. I know — I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border," she said.

New ads, in which the Harris campaign portrays the former California senator as tough on the border, show images of the Trump-era border wall.

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But the Trump campaign noted that, despite that limited support, Harris has a history of opposing the wall at the border. The Trump administration built more than 400 miles of border wall, and it was abruptly halted by the Biden-Harris administration in 2021. 

While there have been some gaps filled and some limited extra construction due to already appropriated congressional funds, the administration has consistently said it opposes border wall construction and there have been no indications of plans for significant extra construction. 

Additionally, Harris has long been a critic of the wall construction that took place in the Trump-era. In 2018, Harris called the wall "un-American." That came a year after she joined Democrats in introducing a bill to block border wall construction.

During her campaign launch in 2019, she dismissed the wall’s effectiveness.

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"On the subject of transnational gangs, let's be perfectly clear. The president's medieval vanity project is not going to stop them," she said.

In 2020, she called it "a complete waste of taxpayer money and won’t make us any safer."

The Trump campaign also sought to link her to the decision to halt border wall construction in her role "as border czar" — although that role was limited to international diplomacy related to root causes. 

"As Border Czar, Kamala Harris halted construction of the border wall. Kamala’s ACTIONS speak much louder than the WORDS of the anonymous staff she is cowering behind," Leavitt said.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller described the report as "total bulls---" and said that Harris "hasn't flip-flopped on anything."

"Harris opposes the wall, has always opposed the wall, and stopped wall construction as VP," he said.