Jon Root doesn’t shy away from a fight, and this time he picked one with Deion Sanders over a 10-second prayer. The outspoken political commentator and Deion Sanders found themselves at the center of an online debate this week, after Sanders opened his postgame press conference following Colorado’s win over Weber State by praying in tongues at the podium.
Root, a commentator for OutKick, wasted no time weighing in. His post on X has since pulled in close to half a million views.
“Colorado HC Deion Sanders attempted to ‘pray in tongues’ before starting a press conference,” Root wrote. “This is nonsensical babbling. Not Biblical at all.”
Colorado HC Deion Sanders attempted to “pray in tongues” before starting a press conference.
This is nonsensical babbling. Not Biblical at all. pic.twitter.com/IwSDeN8L6v
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) September 13, 2026
He didn’t stop there. Root followed up shortly after, pushing his case further and putting the burden of proof on anyone who disagreed with him.
“I have yet to hear a solid, Biblical defense that Deion Sanders is ACTUALLY speaking in tongues in this clip,” he posted.
Is there a single person on this app that can interpret the “tongues” Deion Sanders was speaking in before his person conference?
I’m asking for one person to interpret. Just one.
I’ll wait… https://t.co/BdPmsYZwgV
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) September 14, 2026
That challenge didn’t go unanswered for long. Pastor and content creator Matt Green stepped in with a direct response, grounding his defense of Sanders in 1 Corinthians 14, the chapter of the Bible most often cited on the subject.
“Coach is building up; he’s strengthening himself; he’s getting ready,” Green said in a TikTok video responding to the clip. “He’s saying I need to speak in my heavenly language to the One that is going to bring me through this.”
The chapter itself doesn’t hand Root the clean win he was looking for. Paul writes that “anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God,” describing it as a practice meant for personal strengthening rather than a message the crowd is supposed to understand. That’s precisely the distinction Green leaned on, and precisely the one Root’s post skipped past.
Sanders Has Done This Before
Whatever conclusion people land on, Root’s framing treats this like a new or unusual moment for Sanders. It isn’t. A clip from September 2023 already shows him sliding into tongues in the middle of an English prayer, and it’s part of a pattern that goes back much further than that.
Sanders has been open for years about how his faith became the center of his life after a difficult period in 1997, and he’s talked publicly more than once about praying in tongues through a serious health scare in 2021, when he was hospitalized with blood clots in his leg that put him at risk of losing it.
“So when I look up and say thank you, Jesus, it’s because I know the quiet cries at night that were in that hospital,” Sanders said, recalling the experience. “I know all the speaking in tongues and the prayer, fellowship with God, and the praising Him, through and through. I’m pretty sure some of those nurses thought I was crazy.”
That’s the context Root’s post never gets into. For Sanders, Saturday’s press conference prayer wasn’t a stunt or a first-time experiment in front of cameras. It’s the same practice he’s leaned on through some of the hardest moments of his life, just this time it happened to be caught on a podium mic instead of a hospital room, and one outspoken commentator with a large platform decided it was worth a fight.