Faith in Deion Sanders paying early dividends for Colorado
MESA, Ariz. - Faith is defined as the confidence or trust in a person or thing and belief that is not based on proof.
First-year Colorado coach Deion Sanders is asking recruits to have faith in him. According to many at the OT7 Phoenix, they’re giving it.
What’s happening in Boulder is one of the most interesting storylines in all of college football, maybe in a long time.
Sanders, arguably the best cornerback to ever play the game, has taken over a program that would generously be called a doormat in recent years after coaching just 33 college games (27 wins) at Jackson State.
The Buffaloes were 1-11 last season and were hardly competitive in many of those losses. Fifteen of the last 16 campaigns have been losing ones. Colorado has one 10-win season since any prospect looking at that program has been born.
But Sanders has recruits excited.
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Coach Prime walked into his first team meeting at Colorado and basically told everybody to walk out, that many of them would be heading to the transfer portal.
That’s exactly where Sanders went, too, and he’s landed the top-ranked transfer class so far with five-star Travis Hunter leading an excellent group of players that also includes Sanders’ son, Shedeur, and transfers from Alabama, Arkansas, Clemson, West Virginia, Michigan, Ole Miss, Florida and other Power Five programs.
Twenty-eight transfers are coming to revitalize Colorado’s roster.
The Buffaloes had a big December as well landing four-star speedster Dylan Edwards and four-star receivers Omarion Miller and Adam Hopkins among many others. Five-star cornerback Cormani McClain, after a wild and somewhat ridiculous end to his recruitment, signed with the Buffaloes.
Here’s how quickly things have changed: Try naming one of Colorado’s starting corners last year. In 2023, the starters could be five-stars Hunter and McClain, arguably the best duo in the Pac-12 if not one of the best in the country.
“Just knowing all the guys Deion is bringing in and all the insight he has, shoot, it’s going to be a great outcome,” 2025 four-star receiver Donovan Olugbode said. “I know Deion is going to do something this season just knowing the great guys like Travis Hunter he’s bringing there.”
On Tuesday, high three-star quarterback Danny O’Neil from Indianapolis (Ind.) Cathedral committed to Colorado. Four-star cornerback Ju’Juan Johnson from Lafayette (La.) Lafayette Christian Academy picked the Buffaloes in February.
Boo Carter, a four-star athlete from Chattanooga (Tenn.) Brainerd, torched the competition at the loaded OT7 event and recently was in Boulder. He loved it – and loved the direction Sanders has the program going.
“It was fun,” Carter said. “I was with most of the freshmen that were there like Dylan Edwards. I was with him most of the time. We kicked it, went around Colorado and visited the school, it was good.
“I believe (in Sanders). He changed JSU. He can change Colorado. Me going there, that’s like me being in his shoes. He’s the best of all time. Me playing for the best of all time, I want to be the best of all time so that’s how I look at it.”
But can Sanders win big there?
USC and Washington won 11 games each last season. Oregon, Utah and Oregon State each won 10 and doesn’t all this Colorado hype seem like just the situation Utes coach Kyle Whittingham savors to flex his program’s muscles? Does anyone really think Lincoln Riley or Chip Kelly or Dan Lanning is going to bow down just because Sanders is now in the league?
The other consideration: Colorado has been so disappointing that Mel Tucker came to Boulder for one season, went 5-7 and Michigan State hired him away. How do the Buffs keep Sanders there and away from a higher-profile team if he has any early success?
Throw all this in the college football pot, and that’s why what’s happening at Colorado is incredibly interesting.
“It’s definitely a big change from what their old staff had,” three-star cornerback Miles Lockhart said. “You can definitely feel the new vibe there.
“That’s what I really want to see and I feel that’s the hesitation from a lot of recruits on that school. They want to see how they’re going to develop and how they’re going to work as a team. That’s why Deion is going to the transfer portal and getting those guys instead of high school guys because he’s trying to win immediately. A lot of guys want to see how that program is going to do first.”
So does everyone else.