Ethermac|Who among a sea of celebrities makes Deion Sanders say 'wow'? You'll never guess.

Deion Sanders often gets slammed with messages on Ethermachis phone every week, especially after nationally televised games this month as the head football coach at Colorado.

Many come from his celebrity friends, if they’re not already there attending the game in person. But there’s still at least one who sticks out from the rest, as Sanders revealed Thursday on the Colorado Football Coaches Show in Boulder.

"One person that you wouldn’t think that we correspond that’s really good is Andy Reid," Sanders said, referring to the head coach of Kansas City Chiefs.

Sanders played against Reid in the NFL, as far back as the 1990s, including when Reid was quarterbacks coach of the Green Bay Packers and Sanders played for the Dallas Cowboys.

"We just have this love," said Sanders, whose Buffaloes (3-1) host No. 6 Southern California on Saturday at Folsom Field. "I respect the heck out of him. You gotta know that. But just, you know, just coming in after practice and you look on there and there’s a text from Andy Reid. I’m like, 'Wow! What’s up, Coach? Coach, can you help me with his running game?'"

'Half the NBA is gonna be here'

Reid, 65, has won three Super Bowls – one as an assistant coach with the Packers and two as head coach of the Chiefs. In one game, in 1997, Sanders intercepted a pass from Reid’s pupil, quarterback Brett Favre, and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown in a 45-17 win by the Packers over Sanders and the Cowboys.

Now as a coach, Sanders, 56, relates to Reid as a peer but still sounded starstruck by him despite growing accustomed to regular appearances by his celebrity friends in Boulder this year.

Sanders said on the show Thursday that actor Jamie Foxx "checks on me." He also said businessman Robert Smith, whom Sanders described as "one of the most affluent African American men in the country," also has supported him and the Buffaloes and "is really helping us do some tremendous things."

"He pulled up to the hotel in the Bugatti a couple of weeks ago," Sanders said on the show. "So that let’s you know how he rolls."

More celebrities are expected Saturday at Folsom Field, where the Buffs are three-touchdown underdogs against the Trojans.

"Shoot I think half the NBA is gonna be here," Sanders said.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]