Ex-Buffs Star Jeremy Bloom Helped Engineer CU's Deal For Deion Sanders

Colorado Buffs fans owe Jeremy Bloom a HUGE thank you today ... 'cause the CU alum tells TMZ Sports he was the one who actually helped get the ball rolling on bringing Deion Sanders to Boulder.

Bloom -- who starred as a receiver and returner for the Buffs in the early 2000s -- says his pursuit of Prime all started after Colorado fired Karl Dorrell earlier this year after the team got off to an 0-5 start.

Seeing all the success Sanders had at Jackson State, Bloom tells us he reached out to his former school's athletic director, Rick George, to tell him he just had to go after the former Dallas Cowboys star for the open gig.

"I said, 'Rick, we got to go get Deion,'" Bloom said. "He's the only guy that can overnight make this program relevant again."

Bloom says he then turned to some of Sanders' good friends -- Steve Smith, Brandon Marshall, Shawne Merriman and Myron Rolle -- to reach out to the JSU head man to make sure he was aware that the Buffs wanted him.

"Those four guys helped a ton," Bloom said. "I think that made it legitimate for Deion."

Of course, all the recruitment eventually helped CU sign Sanders over the weekend ... and at his introductory press conference on Sunday, Bloom says Sanders acknowledged all the help he put in to making the day happen.

"Deion and I were laughing about it," Bloom said. "He was like, 'Oh, so you're pulling all the puppet strings!'"

With Sanders now at the helm, Bloom says he's absolutely ecstatic over the football team's potential -- telling us "the sky is the limit."