BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — To Colorado defensive back Carter Stoutmire, Deion Sanders is more than just a coach. He's like an uncle who's been in his life since pretty much the day he was born.

So hearing his coach's booming voice back in meetings and seeing his coach's swagger at camp this week, well, it lifted his spirits. Not just for him, but the entire team in the wake of Sanders announcing news of his private battle with bladder cancer.

“Whatever hardship trials he goes through, he always makes it through,” Stoutmire said after practice Wednesday. “Seeing him back, just a breath of fresh air for the whole team.”

It's been a few months since they've seen their coach after Sanders stepped away to deal with his health. He revealed Monday that doctors removed his bladder to ward off an aggressive form of cancer. He had a section of his intestine reconstructed to function as a bladder.

"Honestly, just having Coach Prime’s presence back in the building is an amazing feeling,” said safety DJ McKinney, whose team opens the season Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech at Folsom Field. “I feel like everybody just has a chip on their shoulder.”

Namely, to work as hard they can for him.

“I mean, it hit different for me, just because that’s like family to me,” Stoutmire said. “That was like real, genuine concern.”

Stoutmire's father, Omar, played for the Dallas Cowboys with Sanders in the 1990s. His dad and Sanders have been longtime friends, which is why he considers him an uncle.

"First time I met him? I don’t remember — he was in my birth room,” Carter Stoutmire said of Sanders. “We’ve just got a whole lot of history, so it’s hard to remember the first genuine time I really met him.”

He’s had a big impact, too. So much so that Carter Stoutmire was part of Sanders’ inaugural high school recruiting class at Colorado.

Asked if his coach's bravado was indeed back at practice, Stoutmire simply responded, "Oh yeah. Ain’t no question about that.”

Upon his return to campus, Sanders tried to pick up right where he left off. Defensive coordinator Robert Livingston said he met with Sanders last week and the first thing Sanders inquired about was Livingston's family. He wanted to know about his son, Luke, who's playing baseball.

Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who also played Major League Baseball, wanted to hear all about it.

“Prime’s talking about his stance and all these things, and he wants to know how that’s going,” Livingston recounted. “His leadership is one of one. He’s the Pied Piper — the world will follow him if they just listen to him."

Livingston's first reaction to the news?

“Scared, just like everybody,” he said. “We’re talking about a life here. This football stuff, that doesn’t really matter at the end of the day.

“He was away and we were working and just knowing that when he comes back, he’s going to hit the ground running. That first staff meeting went about like you thought it would, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this. We’re going to do that.’"

Sanders missed a series of camps in Boulder this summer due to his health. His veteran staff, which includes Pat Shurmur, Warren Sapp and Marshall Faulk, held things down.

“The conversation was never had, like ‘if, then,’” Livingston said. “We knew he’d be here day one.”

The Buffaloes are coming off a season in which they went 9-4 and played in the Alamo Bowl. They have big holes to fill with quarterback Shedeur Sanders now part of the Cleveland Browns and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“When you’re a phenomenal leader as Coach Prime is, you establish a culture, a situation where people just go to work," Livingston said. "And that’s what it was. It was a joy to see.”

Sanders preached checking in with a healthcare provider in his news conference Monday, something that helped him. His cancer was discovered when he went for an annual CT scan as a precaution given his history with blood clots.

It's a message that resonated with Livingston.

“Too often in this profession, we worry about what happens inside these walls more than we worry about what happens outside in being a husband and being a father and taking care of yourself,” Livingston said. “It’s eye-opening for sure."

Guardians beat Rockies 5-0 on Fry's homer and Allard's pitching

CLEVELAND (AP) — David Fry hit a two-run homer, Kolby Allard struck out five in 3 1/3 innings, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Colorado Rockies 5-0 on Wednesday night.

Carlos Santana had two hits and an RBI and José Ramírez added two hits as Cleveland took two of three from the Rockies.

Allard retired nine straight batters with five strikeouts while surrendering just one hit.

Ramírez doubled in the first inning, moving to seventh on the Guardians' career hit list, and Fry followed with a home run over the left field wall for a 2-0 lead.

Jakob Junis (3-1) went two innings while Nic Enright, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith each pitched one scoreless inning. Six Cleveland pitchers held the Rockies to three hits.

Colorado starter Kyle Freeland (2-11) gave up three hits and two runs in three innings.

Brayan Rocchio hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 3-0. Steven Kwan extended his hitting streak to eight games in the eighth inning and scored on Kyle Manzardo's base hit to center field. Santana hit a double to right to make it 5-0.

Colorado's Juan Mejia pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

Key moment

Fry's 383-foot homer gave the Guardians an early 2-0 lead. Cleveland is now 44-12 when scoring four or more runs this season.

Key stat

Allard's second start of the year was exceptional. The 27-year-old retired nine straight Colorado batters, striking out five and allowing just one hit and no walks.

Up next

After a day off, the Rockies open a three-game series against the Pirates but have yet to announce a starting pitcher. The Guardians will also come off a rest day and begin a series against the Twins, with RHP Gavin Williams (6-4, 3.51 ERA) slated to start the opener.

Braves acquire reliever Tyler Kinley from Rockies for minor league pitcher Austin Smith

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Atlanta Braves acquired veteran reliever Tyler Kinley from the Colorado Rockies for minor league pitcher Austin Smith on Wednesday, one day before the non-waiver trade deadline.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Braves designated right-hander Enyel De Los Santos for assignment.

The 34-year-old Kinley has spent the past six seasons in Colorado, where he had a spectacular 2022 season in which he went 1-1 with a 0.75 ERA in 25 appearances. But the right-hander has struggled much of the past three years, and Kinley is just 1-3 with a 5.66 ERA with three saves in 49 appearances this season.

Kinley is in the last year of a $6.25 million, three-year deal that includes a club option for next season.

The 26-year-old Smith is 0-1 with a 2.38 ERA this season at Class-A Rome in the Braves' farm system.