Deion Sanders took over a 1-11 Colorado Football team in December of 2022. He almost completely cleaned the house with 86 new players on the team. In Sanders’ short amount of time as the Buffaloes Head Coach he has been a master of recruiting. Colorado was ranked #1 in the transfer portal rankings and they went from 58th to 20th in the 2023 recruiting rankings. He has also brought so much buzz around Colorado that just didn’t exist before. When we asked Jr. Marcus Monroe, a member of the Green Level football program how Deion Sanders transformed college football this is what he had to say. “He has brought countless fans into the atmosphere of college football, even engaging those who have not previously been interested. He has also given so many people opportunities to succeed by bringing them to higher levels of football along with him.” Ticket prices have gone up from $73 to $281 in a year. Many celebrities have been avid supporters of this team and even come to games. Last Saturday vs. USC, Lebron James, Jay Z, Snoop Dog, Will Ferrell, DaBaby, Matthew McConaughey, DJ Khaled, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Lil Wayne all were in attendance.
On the football side of things, Deion had the Buffaloes off to a very hot start. They beat the national runner-ups in TCU in their first game. Then went on to beat Nebraska in their home opener. Next week, they played in a big rivalry game vs. Colorado State and barely escaped with the win. They lost one of the best players in the country in this game as Travis Hunter had to leave the game after suffering a lacerated liver after taking a big hit from Colorado State safety Henry Blackburn. They then would struggle vs. #10 ranked Oregon, getting blown out 42-6. Most recently they played #9 ranked USC in a thriller, again without Travis Hunter and just nearly lost 48-41. They should be getting Travis Hunter back this week as they take on Arizona State but a 3-2 record is nothing to frown on. Sanders has already tripled the team’s win total from last year in a little over a month. Many people criticized Deion for starting his son, Shadeur at QB as he wasn’t an incredibly high recruit and his only experience was at an HBCU. Shadeur proved them all wrong as he has been one of the top Heisman candidates in 5 games in Boulder. He has put up 1,781 yards, 15 TDs, and only 2 INTs. He has won the heart of America with his confidence, fashion, play on the field, and signature watch celebration. We asked So. Nate Harris about Sanders’ play, he said, “I think Shadeur Sanders is a great example of playing under pressure. With his dad being the coach and all and the attention of them being at Colorado has warranted. Every week he still performs well despite having injuries within the program and eyes on him wherever he is.”
Colorado started off as a primarily white school; the African American population only covered about 2% of campus and those people were primarily athletes. Not only has it changed the culture in Colorado but changed the culture of viewers around the country. Throughout Colorado’s first 3 games, the rate of black viewers skyrocketed up to 77% which was higher than anywhere else in the country. Deion has also paved the path for many HBCU athletes to show that they can play at a high Division 1 level. 9 of his players at Jackson State followed him to Colorado including Shadeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, Shilo Sanders, Tyler Brown, Jeremiah Brown, Gaines Willie, Alejandro Mata, Sil-mon Craig Cam’Ron, and Wilkerson Sy’veon.
Deion has shown in a very short amount of time that you don’t need to have a ton of coaching experience or have the best and most experienced team on paper. Deion has shown how to work the transfer portal and recruiting in order to quickly flip a terrible team into a team that can win right now. Sanders will continue to have a ton of success in Boulder for many years to come.
