Getty Colorado head coach Deion Sanders on the field pre game
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders recruits differently from other college football coaches. He is also not afraid to defend his methods.
During the March 20 Colorado spring ball media day, Sanders addressed a March 14 USA Today article saying he’s made no in-home recruiting visits.
“I’ve really pretty much done a personal survey. I really, truly — in all my heart — believe, parents don’t want me at their house,” Sanders told reporters. “They want to come see my house. They want to see how I live, how I get down.”
The story, written by Brent Schrotenboer, compared Sanders with former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who made over 100 in-home from December 1, 2022, through his leaving Michigan in February 2024 to take the head coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Sanders also called himself a businessman, saying he tries to save the university by not traveling.
Deion Sanders’ Approach is Different When Roster Building
In his 14 months as head coach of Colorado, Sanders has done things differently when building the team roster
With the new era of how college football players can transfer, Sanders has taken advantage of the new rules. In 2023, Colorado had the No. 1-ranked transfer portal class , per 247 Sports. Fast-forward to this year’s class, they were ranked sixth<, combining 76 total players transferring into Boulder over the two seasons.
Sanders has spoken before about moving away from recruiting high school players. He said the way high school recruits look at how they commit to schools is not always with playing time in mind. With NIL, another new piece in the ever-changing college environment, players have different alignments in why they choose to commit to schools. That’s why his decision is to lean more on experienced players from the transfer portal.
“Unlеss thеy’rе rеally maturе or thеy can flat-out ball, I gеt thеm out of thе portal. Bеcausе I alrеady know thе rights, thе wrongs, thе lеfts, and thе mistakеs that hе’s madе,” Sanders said January 18 on “RG3 and The Ones.”
It doesn’t mean he has shut the door on high school recruiting. Despite ranking bottom of the Big 12 in the 2024 recruiting class per 247 Sports, Sanders still pulled in some high recruits. As well as two 4-star recruits, Colorado grabbed a commitment from the number one offensive tackle in the class, 5-star Jordan Seaton.
It’s a different approach to other teams in college football. However, teams like Ole Miss and Louisville have benefited over the last two seasons.
Will We See Further Progression From Colorado In Year 2?
Colorado returned many of last season’s starters, including Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. The Buffaloes were ranked 15 in returning talent by Bill Connelly of ESPN.
Sanders has also brought in two new coordinators as they return to the Big 12 Conference. Pat Shurmur will be the offensive coordinator, who called plays for Colorado in the final four games of the 2023 season. Robert Livingstone, who previously was the safeties coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, will take the defensive coordinator job in Boulder.
With experienced coaching and players familiar with playing under Sanders, the expectation is for improvement in year 2. However, despite the strong start last season, we saw that the Colorado team were still a work in progress.
Moving conferences from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 gives Colorado a slightly more favorable schedule. The expectation could be higher for Sanders in 2024, with a handful of his game-changing players potentially departing.