Colorado football safety Shilo Sanders will appear as an actor portraying his father Deion in the season finale Friday night of “BMF,” a popular crime drama on the Starz premium cable network.

Shilo has only one scene in the episode. But it’s a big deal for his dad, the Colorado coach and longtime master of personal marketing.

It’s also only a blip on a big branding tour these days for Shilo and his brother Shedeur − two University of Colorado football players who have harnessed their father’s fame and combined it with their own skills and savvy to reach new levels of exposure for two college athletes under age 25.

“They’re huge outliers,” said Jim Cavale, founder and chairman of Athletes.org, a players association for college athletes.

Both have entered rarified air in the nascent era of “name, image and likeness” (NIL) deals for college athletes. A combination of rare factors even led to a recent scene where both brothers recently pulled up to a restaurant near campus in Boulder in $100,000 Tesla Cybertrucks, one parked in front of the other.

Then there’s everything else that’s they’ve done in the last two weeks, which doesn’t’ even include their joint modeling appearance at a Paris fashion show in January.

The heightened exposure of Shedeur and Shilo Sanders

There are many examples since April 25 alone:

∎ Shedeur, Colorado’s quarterback, recently posted a message to his 1.8 million followers on Instagram that promoted his new rap single now available on Spotify, or iTunes for 99 cents.

∎ Shilo, who has a million followers on Instagram, traded playful jabs with pro boxer Ryan Garcia in the Colorado locker room, as he showed on an Instagram video post that got more than 54,000 likes.

∎ Shedeur, 22, was swarmed by hundreds of students and fans at a restaurant in Boulder April 26, when he sold nearly $15,000 of his personal brand merchandise at a pop-up retail event, according to an estimate by his business partner. This was where the brothers parked their Cybertrucks outside as onlookers snapped photos of the scene.

∎ Now comes the Starz appearance from Shilo, 24, who was compensated for his acting role on a show that drew 5.1 million viewers for its season premiere in March.

Shilo got the part for a reason, but it’s not the only reason the two brothers are ranked No. 1 and No. 18 in projected college NIL valuations by On3 − at $4.6 million for Shedeur and $1.1 million for Shilo.

Deion Sanders boasted about it a bit last fall in an interview with USA TODAY Sports.

“Shedeur has made a lot of money, man, in college, and they’re good stewards,” he said. “The thing that I love the most and admire about my kids the most − he and Shilo was having an argument … about who had the most money in the bank. I like that as a parent.”

Why is Shilo Sanders appearing on BMF?

BMF, now in its third season on Starz, follows the story of two brothers from Detroit who created the “Black Mafia Family,” the most prominent drug distribution network in American history, as described by the network. Those brothers are Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory.

Deion Sanders and “Big Meech” were familiar with each other, according to Starz. “They were introduced by a mutual acquaintance during Meech’s time in Atlanta while Deion played for the (NFL) Falcons, “ the company said in an email. “Meech would visit Deion’s Atlanta club, aptly named `Prime Time 21,” because of Sanders’ nickname and jersey number.

The company said showrunner Heather Zuhlke and the writing staff worked to incorporate historically accurate elements in the show, leading to the casting of Shilo as a composite character of his father in his younger days, in large part because he closely resembles his father. Similarly, the role of Meech is played by his son in real life.

Deion Sanders, 56, boasted about his sons on Instagram Wednesday. The two football players are entering their final college seasons in Boulder this fall.

“Guess who's playing a Young PRIME!” Deion Sanders wrote. “I'm so proud of @shilosanders he did the Doggone THANG! Good Lawd the SANDERS boys are exercising all the gifts that GOD gave them and having fun living this life that we only get 1 shot at. Live kids Live.”

This is ‘real NIL’ for Deion Sanders' sons

Much of this moneymaking activity by the Sanders brothers would not have been allowed by the NCAA before 2021, when the governing body of college sports was pressured to lift rules that prohibited college athletes from profiting off their fame.

Since then, the brothers have appeared in a Google commercial together and a KFC commercial with their larger family, among other commercial endeavors, including their promotion of various products on social media. Shedeur promoted Gatorade on Instagram this week, for example. Before that, he also once had a one-year "ambassador deal" with Mercedes-Benz that landed him a new Mercedes-Maybach GLS.

This is organic NIL in college sports – companies seeking to boost their brands by paying players to promote a product or make an appearance. It’s much more rare in college sports than the other kind of NIL  – relatively new “collectives” soliciting money from fans and school donors so they can pay athletes under the guise of promoting a cause or charity.

The latter is “not real NIL,” said Cavale of Ahtletes.org. “Shedeur and Shilo are doing real NIL.”

Why their combination is rare

Cavale said there might be one or two players on each major conference team who can command real endorsement or appearance deals. Shedeur and Shilo take it to a level beyond that, in large part because of their father, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, whose fame serves as a platform that few others have in colleges sports. Two recent exceptions are the relatives of other sports stars – LeBron James’ son Bronny at Southern California and Texas quarterback Arch Manning, nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning.  

Bronny James and Arch Manning rank third and fifth in On3’s projected NIL rankings at $3.7 million and $2.4 million, next to another star Colorado player, Travis Hunter, who ranks No. 4 at $2.7 million.

But Arch Manning and Bronny James have not been stars on the field in college like Shedeur and Shilo. Shedeur is expected to be a first-round NFL draft pick next year. Shilo was the team’s leading tackler last year, when the Buffaloes started the season 3-0 before finishing 4-8.

The Sanders brothers also have real “Hollywood” representation, through SMAC Entertainment in California, the same firm that works with their father.

“They come from families that give them an organic audience right off the top, and then they’ve done a good job on social, putting gasoline on that fire and maximizing it,” Cavale said. “These two have really done that, probably the same way Deion would have done if it he had social media and NIL when he was at Florida State. He was everything you could be with the mediums at that time.”

And now the son plays the father on television Friday night on Starz. The episode is entitled “Prime Time.”

“All that stuff is a combination that’s rare,” Cavale said. “And that’s why their success is rare.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

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