BOULDER — Psst! Look, bub, don’t tell anybody, but Deion Sanders, the only football coach in CU history to host “Saturday Night Live,” the only Buffs boss put out his own rap album, beneath all the shades and the swag, deep down, is just a big ol’ offensive line nerd.

“Don’t think for one minute just because he played corner and receiver in the NFL, that’s all he wants to know,” TCU lineman and former Jackson State tackle Willis Patrick assured me this week. “His main attention is on the offensive line and defensive line, because he knows the game is won up front. He knows how detrimental not having a good offensive line can be to the team.”

Patrick portaled into Froggie Land this past winter from Jackson. Heck, he almost became a Buff himself, but more on that last bit in a second. See, in 2021, Coach Prime’s Tigers gave up 36 sacks over 13 games, the most in the SWAC. Sanders’ response? Prime overhauled his pocket, importing road-graders such as the 6-foot-4, 355-pound Patrick, an affable Texan who was a Division II All-American at Angelo State.

“When I got to Jackson, the offensive line before I got there wasn’t very good,” said the Horned Frogs blocker, who’s expected to start at right guard when he faces off against the Buffs on Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

“That was his main focal point, was finding the right offensive linemen to come in and who were just nasty, and (he said), ‘We’re going to protect the quarterback.’ He paid a lot of attention to that … he knows that the run game is important. So he wants to establish that. And he knows he needs the right linemen to do it. He’s big into the offensive line and defensive line.”

Last fall, with Patrick starting 11 games, Jackson State’s sacks-allowed count dropped from 36 to 23 – the largest one-season improvement in the league.

“Give (Shedeur Sanders) a clean pocket,” Coach Prime said of his son and QB1 earlier this week, “(and) there are going to be problems.”

Don’t give him one, and, well, we’ve seen this movie before. Look, nobody’s saying chatter and hand-wringing over the Buffs’ hogmolies going into Week 1 ain’t justified — offensive line cohesion doesn’t subscribe to the plug-and-play, travel-team, win-now philosophy that’s directing traffic in Boulder. That kind of chemistry can’t be rushed. Or faked.

Here’s the thing, though, Patrick countered: You don’t think Deion hasn’t sussed that part out already?

“He’s so attentive to details,” the Frogs transfer continued. “The little things matter so much to him. People don’t really see that side of him. They don’t know that side of him. He’s a winner, a proven winner for a reason. People think one thing about him and I’d say a lot of things people think are misconceptions.

“He’s a great, sweet, kind, loving guy, who’s just competitive and wants to win at all levels. He’s loyal to winning. That’s a favorite saying: He’s loyal to winning games … So that’s one thing I can guarantee for all fans up there in Boulder, the 11 guys, whoever is on the field, those guys are going to be guys that play hard and fight. He likes guys that play hard and are going to play hard for 60 minutes. So I look for them to have a gritty team this year, a play-hard team this year.”

Patrick might know the Buffs, or what’s coming, better than anybody out on the field Saturday. To a point. This past Wednesday, the lineman cracked, his coaches had some studying tape of eight different players from eight different schools.

Maybe that’ll be CU’s secret weapon this fall: Pushing grad assistants on the other team into exhaustion and the opposition into information overload.

“I haven’t really had to tell (them) much about anything,” he said. “(The coaches have) done such a great job … (CU has) got talented players over there, so we’re just trying to get prepared however we can.”

Funny how fate works. Sanders interviewed — and interviewed well, according multiple accounts — for the TCU job that eventually went to Sonny Dykes. Dykes rolled CU at Folsom during the 2022 opener for both, and steered the Frogs all the way to the CFP title game. (The less said about Georgia, the better.)

Sanders turned back to Jackson last fall and put together a 12-1 season. The Buffs, meanwhile, stunk up the joint, and y’all know the rest of the story.

Patrick ultimately wanted to finish his collegiate eligibility close to home, close to family. But the dude was so ready to be a Buff last December that he found himself shopping for places to live around BoCo with Tyler Brown, his old linemate.

“To be quite frank, my first two weeks here at TCU it was tough for me seeing all my boys up there together in Boulder,” Patrick recalled. “It felt like I was the only one who wasn’t up there with them.

“But the guys here took me under their wings and everything just became like family for me here (in Fort Worth).”

The former Tigers on the Buffs roster feel like family, too, Saturday’s tussle notwithstanding. Patrick even referred to Shedeur, CU’s new signal-caller, as “my little brother,” and promised that No. 2 has the goods to shock the world.

“I know people question (him and say), ‘Oh, well, he was playing this competition (FCS) level.’ You can’t teach the intangibles,” Patrick stressed. “That kid is smart. He’s intelligent. He’s an accurate quarterback who makes the right decisions. He doesn’t force things. He studies so much, he knows things before they happen.

“I played tackle for him. I used to see stuff (in the defense), and he would be like, ‘Nah, he’s not coming. He’s bluffing.’ And I’m like, ‘Hey, what’s up with the corner?’ He would tell me, ‘He’s bluffing. You’re good.’ So he’s a very smart kid. He’s a savvy kid.”

Like the man said, clean pocket = problems. As in, the good kind.

“His son is back there a quarterback,” Patrick said. “Obviously, he’s paying attention to the offensive line, for sure. Because you go as far as offensive line and the defensive line takes you. I know he’s preaching that same thing to (CU) right now.”

You can bring all the Louis Vuitton luggage you want into Fort Worth, Eugene and Salt Lake. The beef up front has to get those bad boys up the stairs. Mediocre line play ain’t hard to find. But it’s hell to watch.