Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) waits his turn for a drill during rookie minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus.

A day before he turns 58 years old on Saturday, Aug. 9, Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is getting a special gift on Friday. His youngest son Shedeur is scheduled to make his NFL debut as quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

The father can’t wait. He said Friday he’s already spoken to his son three times by phone.

“It’s gonna be strange for both of us,” Sanders said.

Deion Sanders spoke about this Friday in Boulder, just hours before Shedeur starts a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Shedeur played the previous two seasons under his father at Colorado, where his father is trying to install a replacement for him this month. Sanders normally would walk and talk with Shedeur and another son, Shilo, on the field before games in a family ritual. Now they’re apart, and the father said it was like cutting the umbilical cord after birth.

“I can't wait,” Deion Sanders said. “I'm like a kid in the candy shop. It’s like your baby’s out there. … You cut their biblical cord, and now they doing their thing. I just can't wait to see him get down tonight. But it's going to be a little weird. It's going to be a little strange. It really is …. I got to admit that, but I'm praying for him and God set him up and place him in a perfect position that he needs to be in. It's going to be a problem after tonight, though. I promise you that.”

Sanders also said his son is thankful and appreciative for the opportunity and is approaching it like "this is it."

Why it’s a big moment for Deion Sanders’ son

It has the appearance of a sink-or-swim opportunity for Shedeur, who was picked by the Browns in the fifth round of the NFL draft in April after previously being projected as a first-round pick. After setting more than 100 school records under his father at Colorado – and even getting his jersey number retired there – Shedeur is now fourth-string on the depth chart in Cleveland and got such a small amount of snaps in practice that he didn’t want his father to visit him in preseason camp.

It wasn’t his fault. Cleveland just appears more invested in other more experienced, more expensive or more highly picked quarterbacks on its roster - veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, along with rookie Dillon Gabriel, whom the Browns picked in the third round this year.

That list doesn’t even include previous starter Deshaun Watson, who is out as he recovers from an injury to his Achilles tendon.

But because it’s an early preseason game, the Browns don’t want to risk injury for their top players. Pickett and Gabriel also recently have been limited by hamstring injuries.

So Shedeur is being thrown to the wolves, or Panthers, instead. If he does well, he could get more chances in Cleveland or become better trade bait for another team. If he doesn’t do well, it’s unclear how much of a chance he’ll get again in Cleveland, even if it wasn’t much of a chance at all.

“Oh, it’ll be interesting," Flacco said this week before the preseason game.

What Shedeur’s preseason start means for Deion Sanders

Shedeur is the second-youngest of Deion Sanders’ five children, including two daughters. His eldest son Deion Jr. played football at SMU and now covers his father’s team as a videographer. His middle son Shilo played safety for him at Colorado and is now in preseason camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent.

Deion Sanders previously said Shedeur’s disappointing NFL draft experience “did hurt” him as a father, but he also likened it to the situation faced by quarterback Tom Brady, who rose to become an NFL legend after falling to the sixth round of the NFL draft in 2000.

"He's so prepared right now," Deion Sanders said. "A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game. He's approaching like a game."

Colorado opens its season at home against Georgia Tech Aug. 29. It’ll be his first season as coach without Shedeur or Shilo. Veteran Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and freshman Julian Lewis are competing to replace Shedeur this summer as Colorado’s new quarterback.

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

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders addresses son Shedeur's NFL debut with Cleveland Browns: 'A little weird'

Reporting by Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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