Pro Football Hall of Famer and first-year Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has received a lot of blowback for how he overhauled the roster in Boulder upon his arrival. In spite of it, Coach Prime has been unfazed as he’s reportedly got 70 new players wearing the “Black and Gold.”
The Buffaloes have won just 10 games in a season once in the last 21 years, and with Sanders looking to change the trajectory of the program, he hit the transfer portal hard.
During Friday’s Colorado media day, Sanders spoke in detail as to why he felt the need to overhaul the roster. Sanders, mentioned that a lot of that stemmed from many of the previous players in his opinion not loving the game of football.
Sanders Says It Wasn’t Easy Changing Culture Upon Arrival
“It was tremendously tough, because you had some young men that just didn’t want to play the game. They didn’t love football. It’s hard for me to be effective if you don’t love it, if you don’t like it, if you don’t want to live it. That’s tough,” Sanders said when asked whether it was difficult implementing his program when he first took over.
“That’s tremendously tough when you’re looking at a body of just dead eyes,” Sanders contended. “That’s tough on any coach, not just me. I’m pretty sure a multitude of coaches have experienced that until they could clean house and get the roster they want. It was tremendously challenging day by day. I’m happy with what I see every morning now. I really am.”
Sanders Took Advantage Of Rule
When a new coach arrives at a program, thanks to a bit of a loophole in the rules they have the right to cut players. It’s at their discretion who they choose to keep and who they decide doesn’t fit what they’re looking to install.
The school must still honor their scholarships, but they’re no longer a member of the program. So, in most cases the players transfer to another school. It’s very rare a player sticks around after being cut, and especially if they’re still looking to suit up and take the field.
As for Sanders he’s comfortable in what he’s done, and now we fans we’ll see what it looks like come Sept. 2 at TCU.
