BOULDER, Colo. – Deion Sanders has fashioned a new look for himself this spring as head football coach at Colorado. At age 56, the Pro Football Hall of Famer grew out his light beard and often showed up for work in blue-collar coveralls that otherwise might be worn by a car mechanic.
In this case, the style fits his task. Renovations are underway by a repairman who’s one year wiser – and grayer. The question now is if it’s all good enough in Year Two after so much fell apart in Year One, especially when it seems his player roster is constantly changing.
Is Sanders’ quarterback son Shedeur really better after breaking his back last season?
Are his blockers up for the job this time after Colorado brought in a whole new starting offensive line to replace last year’s?
And does the Colorado fan base still believe?
Some clues will be revealed Saturday at Colorado’s annual intrasquad spring game at Folsom Field.
The television audience and crowd for this spring game will be much smaller this year than last year, Sanders’ first season in Boulder. But it still will likely be the second-biggest spring football crowd in Colorado history, better than 2008, when the game drew 17,800.
There are at least two general reasons for this:
∎ Many CU alumni and fans still believe in the high potential of Deion Sanders after he turned around a downtrodden program that finished 1-11 the season before he was hired in late 2022.
“I’m hugely optimistic,” said Jeff Crawford, a Colorado graduate and donor to CU athletics.
∎ But there are also plenty of reasons to be skeptical after Sanders finished his first season in Boulder with a 4-8 record, including eight losses in his final nine games. Much like last year, Colorado’s roster is being remade with dozens of transfer players coming and going.
“The best teams that I was on weren’t the most talented teams,” former Colorado and NFL linebacker Chad Brown told USA TODAY Sports. “Talent is only a part of the equation. You’ve got to get these guys to play together and become a team. So with all the movement in and off of this roster, it just seems like it’s an incredibly difficult task to develop players and to grow players and to grow a culture there. So hopefully that part of it is not being overlooked.”
Instead of being on ESPN, like it was last year, the game will be on the Pac-12 Network for one hour, starting at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, followed by the Oregon spring game at 4 p.m. ET.
Instead of a sellout crowd like last year (47,277), there were 22,000 tickets distributed as of Monday.
Both are a far cry from what Deion Sanders wanted. In a video posted this week, he said his team is so much better this spring compared to last year.
“Night and day,” he said on Thee Pregame Show.
On paper, he’s probably right. His star players return, including Shedeur Sanders and two-way phenom Travis Hunter, both of whom have their replica jerseys on sale in the campus bookstore for $109.99. Colorado’s biggest weakness last year – the offensive line – also appears to be bigger and better.
So then why did “Coach Prime” have to make this kind of plea to fans this month?
“I want everything we do sold out,” he said on Well Off Media April 10. “I didn’t stutter, nor did I stumble. I want it sold out. We love you. We love us. Let’s get together. Let’s make it happen.”
It likely won’t, but that doesn’t mean big things aren’t happening this weekend for Sanders and Colorado. They are – just with a little more of a wait-and-see market than before.
Recruits are coming. Rapper Lil Wayne is performing. And Deion Sanders is helping host a “Prime Time Elite Dinner” Friday to benefit the collective that supports his players for their names, images and likenesses (NIL). A VIP table with “Coach Prime” already sold out at $20,543 for eight tickets.
Just like last spring, Sanders will use this weekend to showcase his program for recruits. Among those planning to visit Boulder is Byron Louis, a high school running back out of Fort Lauderdale who ranks 14th nationally as a running back prospect for 2025, according to 247Sports composite rankings.
“University of Colorado I’m on my way,” Louis wrote Wednesday on social media site X.
Colorado also is expected to host several transfer players who plan to enroll this year, including Pittsburgh defensive end Dayon Hayes, Ohio defensive lineman Rayyan Buell and Texas offensive lineman Payton Kirkland.
The latter three show that the transfer portal door swings both ways – in and out. Colorado has had at least 33 scholarship players announce they were transferring or leaving the team since November, mostly backup players or those who became disenchanted with the program, such as Cormani McClain, the No. 1 cornerback recruit in the nation last year. But the Buffs also have added at least 28 transfers since last December, several of whom will play Saturday.
Those who make the trip this weekend might run into some rain on Saturday. But they also can see Lil Wayne, Deion Sanders’ friend, who will perform at the CU Events Center on campus after the game. That concert is nearly sold out with over 6,000 tickets out, as of Monday, according to the university.
None of the five starting offensive linemen who finished the season last year at Colorado are even on the roster anymore after four decided to transfer and another exhausted his eligibility in college.
Anywhere else, that probably would not be good. But here at Colorado, fans are excited about it.
That’s because last year’s offensive line gave up the second-most quarterback sacks in the nation (56), leaving Shedeur Sanders battered to the point that he fractured his back.
“Our biggest weakness last year was in the trenches,” said Crawford, the CU grad and donor. “I think we have upgraded significantly in the trenches. And I think that will be the difference this year. If those guys play well like I think we will, I think we’ll have a very successful year.”
It’s still a question that won’t be answered until the fall: Can this new group block?
They’re a bunch of new transfer players, along with Jordan Seaton, the No. 1 offensive tackle recruit in the nation for 2024, according to 247Sports.
“Just to say you’ve got new offensive linemen doesn’t mean you’ve got a new offensive line,” said Brown, the former Colorado linebacker. “The line is the one unit on the football team that requires the most work, that requires the most time together, that requires the most unspoken communications … How do you turn some linemen into an offensive line? That’s a very a critical piece.”
Deion Sanders still sees huge progress there nonetheless.
“These guys are a tremendous group and they’re a tremendous family,” Deion Sanders said last week. “You rarely see one without the other. You rarely see one of those guys anywhere. You see three or four of them together at all times.”
Only four of the 10 full-time assistant coaches from last year’s team are listed in the same coaching roles as last year after five coaches left for jobs at other schools and one coach changed positions.
“The staff is a much better staff,” Deion Sanders said on Thee Pregame Show this week. “It’s a much more understanding staff that’s more relatable to these young men as well.”
Saturday will be a dress rehearsal for them, too, especially on defense under new defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, who previously served as defensive backs coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. Livingston lost McClain but gained several newcomers, including Oklahoma State transfer cornerback DJ McKinney and former LSU lineman Quency Wiggins, both of whom have three years of college eligibility remaining.
They are expected to play in a format Saturday that will feature the first-team offense against the second-team defense and the first-team defense against the second-team offense.
“I’m excited to feel that atmosphere,” Livingston told reporters this week. “I’m excited to see what it’s like to be here under the mountains and kind of everything you took the job for.”
After the game, the transfer portal remains open until the end of the month. More players could come and go before the Colorado roster is formed in time for the season opener Aug. 29 at home against North Dakota State.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
