The announcement of Deion Sanders leaving Jackson State for Colorado seemed to help open up the floodgates as pertains to the “hot as fish grease” transfer portal.
On3 host Josh Newberg is reporting that as many 200 recruits have reached out to the school about joining Coach Prime’s Buffaloes. The news comes on the heels of Sanders meeting with his new team and telling many of them to pretty much look to play somewhere else next season, as he’s bringing and adding his own luggage of elite ballers, which he referred to as “Louis Vuitton.”
Deion Sanders telling the CU Buffs football team that he’s bringing his own luggage, and that they better hit the portal. This is crazy 🤯 pic.twitter.com/004LUKiTr2
— College FB Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) December 4, 2022
200 Transfers Already Contacted Deion Sanders
Sanders has made it clear what kind of players he’s searching for, and after a 1-11 season he definitely is going to clean house prior to entering the 2023 Pac-12 season. Many new faces will don the black and gold of the Buffaloes next season.
The expectancy is for many of the portal’s high-profile players to give Colorado a serious look now with Coach Prime at the helm. Players saw what he accomplished at Jackson State in a short amount of time. They also know him being a Pro Football Hall of Famer is a good look with their professional projections, at least in terms of getting feedback as to where they may stand in that particular realm.
A source at Colorado tells me over 200 recruits and portal transfers have reached out in the last 12 hours.
Some of them are 4 and 5-star caliber players. Deion Sanders has a chance to make some noise before Signing Day.
NIL money is also rolling in, I'm told.
— Josh Newberg (@josh_newberg) December 5, 2022
Sanders Is Bringing His Own Four And Five Stars: But Will He Add Others?
While Sanders is definitely bringing some great luggage in 2022 No. 1 overall recruit Travis Hunter, and his son Shedeur, a 2021 four-star recruit at quarterback. He still wants to add some more high-grade talent to the Buffaloes roster.
One player who could be a plug-and-play is former Alabama five-star running Trey Sanders, who tweeted this at Coach Prime.
“You got room for me unc?” the 2019 No. 1-ranked high school running back asked Coach Prime. Sanders is exactly the type of player Coach Prime is looking to add via the portal, and running back seems to be a position of need at Colorado. Sanders never really got going at Alabama, as injuries and a car accident hindered him from ever making the impact he was expected to after leaving the vaunted IMG Academy in 2019.
Sanders also landed his first five-star recruit of the Colorado era when 2025 wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. committed to Coach Prime. He’s the No. 4 ranked receiver and No. 13 overall player in the class. He’s also the cousin of NFL wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
Let’s Make History, Fort Myers wit Fort myers 🦬 #WeComingCoachPrime #GoBuffs #SkoBuffs pic.twitter.com/UEFfOWrUcR
— Winston Watkins Jr. (@winstonwatkins_) December 4, 2022
A player ranked that high committing to a 1-11 squad with two years left in high school is an indicator of “The Coach Prime Effect.”
Staff Hires Make A Difference
Hiring the right staff plays a vital role in how recruits view a certain situation. That’s why the addition of offensive coordinator Sean Lewis is huge. He runs a spread offense but still uses power run game principles. He was the offensive coordinator under coach Dino Babers at Syracuse and at Bowling Green. His offenses were always equal opportunity and used as many players as possible. At Kent State his units were always dynamic and ranked fifth in the nation in 2021. That is a selling point to recruits who know they’ll have ample opportunities to shine in Colorado’s new system.
On defense, Prime hired Charles Kelly, the former FSU defensive coordinator and Alabama safeties coach. Kelly’s defense will be built on pressure, and that means an aggressive approach, which players love.
Those are some of the reasons why the Colorado Buffaloes are hot right now. Players can sense this won’t be a sham as they have been for the better portion of 20 years.
Boulder is about to BREAK because Coach Prime “aint hard to find.” The success as far as wins go might not be immediate, but with the way he’s able to accrue talent, the losing culture won’t last long.
