Not a great look for Colorado’s new football coach…
Deion Sanders made headlines when he left Jackson State University to coach at the University of Colorado. Many thought he would stay at the HBCU that was slowly becoming a powerhouse, but Sanders decided to take his coaching talents out west.
All eyes have been on Sanders and the Colorado football team since his arrival there, and after the team’s spring game this past weekend, the Colorado Buffalos lost a good chunk of their “herd” to the transfer portal.
For those that aren’t familiar, the transfer portal is a digital platform that allows for student-athletes to make it known to other universities that they are open to transferring from their respective institutions.
There used to be a rule that required student-athletes to sit out a year if they transferred to another school, but that has since been removed as a requirement.
In this day and age of college athletics, especially with the introduction of NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) opportunities, some are calling the transfer landscape and athletics in general as the “wild west.”
It certainly is wild out west in Colorado, where Deion Sanders lost 14 of his players to the transfer portal in one day, according to Front Office Sports:
In one day, 14 of Colorado's scholarship players have entered the transfer portal:
Xavier Smith, S
Aaron Austin, DL
Grant Page, WR
Aubrey Smith, LB
Alex Harkey, OT
Deion Smith, RB
Devin Grant, DL
Oakie Salave'a, DL
Jordyn Tyson, WR
Jason Oliver, CB
Tyrin Taylor, S
Jackson… pic.twitter.com/jciZSWKXjC— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 24, 2023
The University of Colorado, one day after their spring game, suffered a mass exodus from their football team.
This would be incredibly shocking even five years ago, but it is now becoming more commonplace for student-athletes to quickly up-and-leave if they don’t see eye-to-eye with the coach or the team’s vision.
It certainly shouldn’t be a surprise to Coach Sanders, who encouraged his football players on his first day as coach to utilize the portal by saying:
“I’m coming, and when I get here, there’s gonna be change.
So I want y’all to get ready to go ahead and jump in the portal and do whatever you’re gonna get.
The more of you jump in, the more room it makes.”
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 Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) December 4, 2022
So yeah…
You can’t be entirely shocked by the 14 players leaving when that has been the message from Sanders from literally day one.
I’m sure Sanders will get plenty of players to come into the program and play for the team in the Fall. Though his players might be leaving, it seems as though his fans are here to stay.
The spring game that was played on Saturday was PACKED compared to the same game the previous year.
Boulder's spring game before vs. after Deion Sanders took over 🤯
The Coach Prime Effect
(via @nikkiedwardsss) pic.twitter.com/P1IvE0i82x
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 22, 2023
The “Coach Prime Effect” is in full force.
Fans are clearly bought in, but the recent influx of Buffalos to the transfer portal shows that the coaching method put forward by the former NFL legend might not be for everyone…
As the old saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of Coach Prime’s kitchen…
