After getting walloped at Washington State on Nov. 17, Colorado coach Deion Sanders had a clear message.
“This is the toughest stretch of probably my life,” Sanders said from a cold media room in Pullman.
Colorado finished 4-8 in Sanders’ first season with the Buffaloes, a marked improvement from the 1-11 showing the year before Sanders got to town but not the finish that was expected after Colorado started 3-0.
The Buffaloes lost eight of their last nine games. The only conference team they beat was Arizona State by 3.
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To Sanders’ credit, he didn’t blame others. He didn’t float his name out there for any job possible to get out of Boulder. He didn’t make excuses.
Instead, Sanders set out to bring in more Louis Vuitton and that’s exactly what he accomplished through high school and portal recruiting.
The offensive line was atrocious at Colorado this past season. Just ask quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who endured bone-crushing hits all season until it literally broke him. Sanders suffered a fractured back against Washington State and missed the season finale against Utah, another loss but this one by only six points.
So what did Sanders do?
Colorado went out and beat Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio State and others for five-star offensive tackle Jordan Seaton, who had taken a previous visit to Boulder but it looked like others had surged ahead.
"Taking my second visit there, I like the connection I have with the coaches," Seaton said.
"There aren't many mostly Black coaching staffs out there. Just seeing somewhat familiar faces and people who look like me on the coaching staff is definitely very rare. There are only a few Black head coaches in college football so it's definitely rare seeing that.”
And the Buffaloes did incredible work in the portal. Seaton was a massive piece but Colorado also needed depth desperately and nabbed a bunch of transfers. Colorado landed offensive linemen Matthew Bedford (Indiana), Kahlil Benson (Indiana), Justin Mayers (UTEP), Tyler Johnson (Houston), Yakiri Walker (UConn) and Jackson State’s Amari Ward on the offensive line alone.
NC State receiver transfer Terrell Timmons Jr. and Cincinnati tight end transfer Chamon Metayer were also added out of the portal.
But the biggest playmaker headed to Boulder could be four-star receiver Dre’lon Miller chose Colorado over USC and the former Texas A&M commit had the Aggies and LSU also involved.
For Miller, Colorado felt like home.
“It was a tough decision but I felt like in my heart this is where God wanted me to go,” Miller said.
“The whole coaching staff from the players to the coaches to the people at the school. I just felt the communication and the love was real and genuine.”
Moving to the Big 12 next season, Colorado’s schedule becomes far more favorable as well.
Year 1 was tough – maybe the worst stretch of Sanders’ life – but things are getting brighter in Boulder and it’s because of recruiting work by the coaching staff in the high school ranks and, of course, the portal.
