Colorado coach Deion Sanders is constructing a roster with addition by subtraction and attempting to revitalize a moribund program that has experienced one winning campaign in the last 16 full seasons.
The sausage is being made in Boulder. Do you really want to watch how it’s being done?
In his first team meeting after being hired away from Jackson State, Sanders basically encouraged guys in the room to access the transfer portal and told them he’s bringing his Louis Vuitton bags with him, meaning the good players.
To be fair, Sanders promised all this would happen. Maybe nobody believed him, maybe nobody wanted to believe him.
But Colorado’s roster – a team that went 1-11 last season and was hardly competitive in many losses – has been almost completely disassembled. By the latest count, 46 Colorado players from last season are in the transfer portal. At least 19 since Saturday’s spring game have entered the portal.
It’s not sitting well with some tastemakers in the California recruiting world.
“You can’t get rid of everyone and hope you get the ones you want,” one source who has deep relationships with many top prospects in Southern California told me.
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CUSPORTSREPORT: Breaking down CU's mass exodus
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Another source who has vast connections in West Coast recruiting: “Deion is a mess. It’s all about him.”
The list of players departing Boulder after this weekend – packing up in Louis Vuitton bags or not – includes last year’s top two receivers in Montana Lemonious-Craig and Jordyn Tyson.
Since jumping in the portal, Lemonious-Craig has landed at least 20 offers including from Auburn, Arizona, UCF, Cincinnati, Penn State, Mississippi State, Cal, West Virginia, Oregon State, Arkansas, Louisville and Purdue.
What makes this so tough to swallow for some is that Saturday's sold-out spring game looked so promising. An extraordinary amount of behind-the-scenes work has been put in by Sanders to assemble an elite coaching staff with brilliant young minds and grizzled veterans who understand the challenges ahead.
ESPN was basically salivating over Sanders and what he’s accomplished so far – bringing the excitement back to Boulder – with Chris Fowler laughing up a storm and sideline reporter Quint Kessenich complimenting Sanders for the “dogs” he saw in street clothes, referring to high-end recruits in the stands.
And those top prospects, and there were many in attendance, loved the atmosphere despite the bitter cold conditions and the snow on the field that needed to be plowed off.
There is a true sense of excitement and wonderment about what Sanders is doing – and can do – with the Buffaloes.
“My favorite is how all the coaches have the same mindset of winning and getting dogs,” four-star Boo Carter said. “I love how coach Prime is changing Colorado not just as a football team but as a family. You go around campus and everybody will tell you how good of a man coach Prime is and how he treats them.”
Elite 2025 receiver commit Winston Watkins Jr. said: “[Sanders said to] keep doing what I’m doing, having fun and balling every time I step on that field. Also, that we’re family and he’s going to make sure we’re good and how they’re going to change the program around. I’m not worried about anybody except them Buffs, baby.”
Saturday was a made-for-TV spring game moment, which is really hard to accomplish. Usually, these things are borefests that are hardly glorified scrimmages and most times the coaches (and players) act after a few series like they just want to get off the field without injuries.
But in perfect Prime fashion, Sanders was decked out in a white cowboy hat, a Prime-embroidered jacket, an “Ain’t Hard 2 Find” sweatshirt, his assistants in “We Coming” shirts and he even had 98-year-old superfan Peggy Coppom perform the honorary opening kickoff.
According to reports, the announced crowd of 47,277 at the spring game was more than the last nine spring games combined. Michael Westbrook, Kordell Stewart and other former marquee players were inside the stadium.
Five-star Travis Hunter, who came from Jackson State with Sanders, is a superstar. Sanders beat Miami and Florida for five-star DB Cormani McClain. A busload of other elite players are coming in from the portal. The roster has been revolutionized but with another massive wave of portal entries, a whole lot more work needs to be done.
Bridges are also being burned, to the ground, in a raging inferno.
Actively encouraging that many to the transfer portal means all those players have high school coaches that could be perturbed, 7on7 coaches and handlers who have high-end players in future recruiting classes who could be turned off by what’s happening.
“He knows he won’t be there long,” one source said.
Maybe Sanders feels it’s what needs to be done to completely change course, the thinking that an omelet cannot be made without breaking some eggs. But some of this also feels like the scene in ‘Hoosiers’ when an assistant asks coach Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman, if he knows what he’s doing and Dale is adamant that he does.
A lot of risks are being taken. Who knows who’s going to get shipped to the portal next? A bunch of recruits are hyped after visiting this weekend but also mid-level four-star defensive back Ju’Juan Johnson from Lafayette (La.) Lafayette Christian Academy decommitted right after being in Boulder. SEC powers now look best for him.
“How is he going to fill 40-plus roster spots?” another source asked. “How he’s going about things isn’t right but that’s his program. I’ve been told by players in that locker room he favors the kids he brought in. If the kid is out-lifting or out-working the other kid he won’t say [anything] to that kid because he didn’t bring him in.”
A Facebook group that focuses on goings-on in California high school and college football has been wildly critical of Sanders’ approach in recent days. An Instagram post by Sanders on Tuesday evening seemed like he sensed some criticism coming his way from somewhere.
Sanders: “We Coming” Sit back and watch this thang unfold right before your eyes. To all our TRUE BUFFS FANS, we love ya and appreciate u. To the rest, stay tuned and keep talking we see u & “We Still Coming” I Keeps Receipts.”
As of Tuesday night, that post had more than 36,000 likes.
