University of Colorado Head Football Coach Deion Sanders has been trying to reinvent the game since he entered the college coaching ranks back in 2020. The Pro Football Hall of Famer came from the TV world, skipping the traditional “work your way up” path to becoming a head coach and took over at Jackson State, an HBCU program. Almost immediately he signed the top ranked high school recruit in the country, Travis Hunter, to a scholarship with an FCS school. That hadn’t happened before.
After a successful run at JSU – where he had promised to stay to help revitalize the HBCU model – Sanders brushed aside criticism that he was abandoning the HBCU mission an accepted the job at Colorado after the 2022 season. He then became the first college football head coach to publicly and forcefully gut the roster he was inheriting – telling approximately 70 current CU players to “hit the (transfer) portal” – to bring in a massive class of transfers. He was roundly criticized for his methods at the time by more traditional college football people, many of who have, over the past three off seasons, gotten on board. While Sanders continues to use the portal as his main recruiting mechanism, he’s no longer the only one, nor does CU have the biggest roster turnover every year. For example, this winter, Oklahoma State has brought in 53 new players via the portal, to Colorado’s 43.
Sanders Pushing for a Major Change to Spring Football
For Deion, moving the college game more and more toward the NFL model seems more than reasonable. This time one year ago, he proposed the concept of “joint practices” in the spring to update the standard spring football/spring game format. Sanders and Syracuse coach Fran Brown were making plans for the Orange to come to Boulder in March, but the NCAA nixed the plan, saying there was not enough time to make it work for all the teams who’d want to do something similar.
In January, Sanders and Brown reached out to the NCAA decision makers much earlier to alleviate that issue, but were turned down again. This time the NCAA said they were examining similar but more extensive plans and wanted to wait to incorporate all the ideas into one proposal for changes to the “college football calendar.”
Critics have said Sanders is all about the show, and many of his “events” at Colorado – including last year’s spring game that included the controversial jersey retirement of his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders as well as Heisman winner Hunter – have followed that script. Having players wear their social media handles on their practice jerseys also fits the “look at me” narrative.
However, as the college game becomes more and more “professionalized” in other ways, the idea of NFL-style joint practices doesn’t sound all that radical. In fact, as Sanders and Brown pointed out in their plea to the NCAA, it substantially reduces the risk of injury to each team by cutting in half the number of players that a team has on the field at one time.
The Joint Practices Idea Not Limited to Boulder
Other schools are also picking up on the idea and more are sure to follow. A year ago, several notable programs like USC, Nebraska and Texas cancelled their spring games all together, with risk of injury (along with exposure to a spring transfer portal window) one of the many concerns. With roster sizes now set at 105 per team, significant pre-season injuries are a risk many don’t want to take. When rosters could include an unlimited number of walk-ons, there were enough bodies available that the snaps played by standout players could be monitored, limited or even eliminated altogether and a legitimate game could still take place.
Most of those programs have re-instated their spring games this year, citing the lack of a spring transfer portal to worry about. At those schools, a spring intersquad game will still draw a lot of attention, but injuries will still be a concern.
At Colorado, the lack of fan interest in the spring game has always been a concern. Deion’s first spring game was an anomaly, the unquestioned high point in fan engagement in April. However, before that…and after…that interest has been very limited. Sanders’ proposed joint practice/game would most certainly bring with it a more significant amount of fan and media attention, which is music to the coach/promotor’s ears.
Deion Sanders Latest Attempt to Alter College Football Fails – For Now