As Pro Football Hall of Famer and first-year Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders continues to prep for the upcoming season, he’s been the talk of the offseason.
Of course, there are questions as to how he’ll fare out in Boulder after dominating at Jackson State in FCS ball, but this is FBS football where the talent and competition is much, much stiffer on a weekly basis, and because of that Sanders has completely changed the look of his team heading into the 2023 season.
Since his arrival at Colorado on Dec. 4, 2022, Sanders has made a ton of changes, none bigger than his flipping the entire roster.
In fact, 52 players entered the transfer portal since that fateful snowy day back in December. For Sanders this was by design, as he looked to change the culture of a program that was 1-11 in 2022 and 5-19 the last two seasons combined.
Sanders’ method of team construction hasn’t gone over well with some of the coaches around the country, with Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables both questioning his method.
Not that Coach Prime cares.
USC’s Lincoln Riley Credits Sanders
Singing a different tune than the aforementioned Narduzzi and Venables, who both took over winning programs, is USC head coach and QB guru Lincoln Riley. During Pac-12 media days, the offensive savant gave Sanders his flowers for doing what he feels is best for his program going forward.
“I give Sanders credit. We all know what the rules are. We all know what the parameters are. And our job is to build the best teams that we can for the universities that give us the opportunity to do it. No excuses.”
Riley continued, “There is obviously needed to be a roster transformation there in coach Sanders’ opinion, and he went about it aggressively. Obviously, the success of that for us or anybody else to be determined on the field as time goes on.
“From the outside looking in, they’ve done a great job transforming that roster and bringing in some really good players.”
Riley And Sanders Lock Horns In Late September
While the two coaches haven’t formally met because Sanders missed last week’s Pac-12 media days as he recovered from surgery to have blood clots removed amid his ongoing battle with his foot/toe problems, they’ll clash on Sept. 30 in Boulder.
The talk leading up to the game will be about Sanders and Riley but will quickly shift to the two quarterbacks, Shedeur Sanders and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.
