Colorado Buffaloes have 18 players enter transfer portal following spring game
The Deion Sanders coached Colorado Buffaloes saw 18 players enter the transfer portal on Monday following Sanders' first spring game as head coach.
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This is literally what Sanders said he was going to do, very very publicly, and to the players faces.
I don’t think all of the players are transferring because Sanders wants them out. It’s some of that, but it seems to be a mini-mutiny as well. Complete shit show in Boulder right now.
He probably didn’t tel every single one of them to leave, but he probably directly told a lot of them to leave or recruited better players over many of the rest. If a few don’t like the new culture that he’d have been willing to keep, well that’s just sort of the reset button of culture part.
He’s had 41 guys enter the portal on his own roster, but he’s already recruited 26 - 26! - to come to CU out of the portal. A LOT of those guys are impact-rating guys out of big boy power 5 programs. Looking at the online transfer portal trackers, only four guys leaving CU have committed to other P5 programs. Lots of guys going down to FCS and G5.
So again, like it or hate it, this is EXACTLY what he said he’d do: turn over the entire roster as fast as possible. And it’s exactly what a desperate CU program with one of the worst rosters and cultures in the country signed up for bringing him in.
Seems to me Dion Sanders has a ton of name reputation to bring in his own players. Maybe cleaning house is the best thing.
I think I agree with that, but in trying to avoid this turning into a “do I Like Deion’s approach or not” argument. The reality is it’s definitely EXACTLY his stated plan.
Whoops I spelled wrong on the NU site. I will willingly accept any punishment the moderators choose.
Not a shit show in Boulder at all. Prime said on day one that most of last years team would not be back. Sid the same thing before the spring game last Saturday- which was sold out for the first time , by the way. 47,000.
Reports here in Denver were that after the spring game the v various position coaches told those kids that were not in their plans that they should transfer. Thus the exodus.
This might seem harsh, but this is the way of the college football world these days. Kids who don’t play enough for their liking jump. Kids who the coaches don‘t want get told to leave. And from reports here apparently new college coaches have some allowance to pull scholarships from kids they didn’t recruit.
Tough on some kids. But let’s remember that Colorado was 1-11 last year. Most of last years players are/were not good enough to compete at a Big 5 level.
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It's fascinating to watch from afar, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy it if it were my team. Still, 1-10 is pretty bad, so maybe drastic changes is the way to go. As a fan of a team with a similar record, it's interesting to see what comes of this.
It does not matter how Colorado justifies this, or whether its a sign of the times, or the new way things are done, its wrong. Plenty of programs have been rebuilt successfully from scratch over a period of years by new coaches improving current players with coaching and bringing in players (Gary Barnett at NU). In fact, in some cases, the left over players are the key to any success the program has under the new coach (see Bilema in Champaign with Lovie's kids this last year).
I don't blame Saunders or his coaches for this. They are paid to win and doing what they feel they need to do. This is all on the university for allowing it to happen.
Two things can be true at once. Prime is doing exactly what he said and it is a shit show.
I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, it kind of sucks that this is putting some kids in a tough position of "you aren't going to play, so you really should leave the program". On the other hand, this is the other side of paying players and essentially free agency at the end of every season. It's a lot more cutthroat and that's just part of the game.
I still wish there was a middle ground where there were a lot more rules around NIL - to me, that's the best solution. That said, it is what it is, and this is part of it now. Welcome to real life, kids.
I agree with having mixed feelings, but I don't tie this to NIL. It's really about transfer rules. You can either have a system where transferring its slow and difficult (e.g. you have to sit out a year, so fewer people want to transfer and coaches are less eager to move people out of the program) or more fluid. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
I'd be interested to know how many kids don't finish college after leaving a football program.
I'd be interested to know how many kids don't finish college after leaving a football program.
We're back to the "good old days" (pre-scholarship limits) like when Johnny Majors brought in 70 new players at Pitt back in the early 70s. Deion is probably going to have that many new guys by the time the season starts. NU is never going to do this nor should they.
Good article in The Athletic today about the portal at Colorado. I was surprised to read that the average Power 5 team has 16 players in the portal. NU's 8 is way below average, surprising for a 1-11 team.
theathletic.com
Colorado’s transfer portal exodus: The numbers behind Deion Sanders’ extreme roster purge
Colorado had 83 scholarship players at the start of the 2022 season. Only 20 are still on the roster as of Monday night.
theathletic.com
Good article in The Athletic today about the portal at Colorado. I was surprised to read that the average Power 5 team has 16 players in the portal. NU's 8 is way below average, surprising for a 1-11 team.
Colorado’s transfer portal exodus: The numbers behind Deion Sanders’ extreme roster purge
Colorado had 83 scholarship players at the start of the 2022 season. Only 20 are still on the roster as of Monday night.
Not a fan of this new age of college football. I’m really hoping this type of roster change proves unsustainable and Sanders fails miserably.
I would be very surprised he he fails miserably.
I would be quite pleased if NU has a better record than Colorado with its 60 new players.
Some guys are going down a level because CU’s staff is withholding their 2022 film. That is just a shitty thing to do.
Of the two methods: I hope Fitz’s has a better record in 2023 (and beyond). Sanders is crapping all over the idea that CU football players are student athletes. And his staff is not doing right by his “splinter boys”.
Colorado to give transfers access to practice film
Colorado players who have entered the transfer portal will have access to practice film from 2022 and earlier, the team said Wednesday, in response to players who had been denied access to the footage.
Long discussion on Denver sports talk radio about this today. 4 former college and pro players all agreed: NO college program gives out practice video. And NO college coach wants practice video. They only want game video.Some guys are going down a level because CU’s staff is withholding their 2022 film. That is just a shitty thing to do.
Of the two methods: I hope Fitz’s has a better record in 2023 (and beyond). Sanders is crapping all over the idea that CU football players are student athletes. And his staff is not doing right by his “splinter boys”.
Colorado to give transfers access to practice film
Colorado players who have entered the transfer portal will have access to practice film from 2022 and earlier, the team said Wednesday, in response to players who had been denied access to the footage.www.espn.com
ALL 4 agreed that this kid doesn’t understand how things are done in major college football. Perhaps one reason he’s being run off?
BS. There are coaches who have/are/will evaluate practice film cuts. Although they may also consider high school film and recruitment.
I was at the game. It was legitimately a fantastic atmosphere. The pregame was amazing - was in their fieldhouse which was filled with things for the kids + had a ton of ex-athletes there signing autographs + a ton of recruits. The game itself was fun, but seeing the older lady do the kickoff was great, and Prime definitely kept the energy up.
I did think it was funny that Prime was wearing his swag (not CU). I also think the WR that went into the portal was legit - had a great rip on a catch. Plus little sanders and hunter looked the part for sure. The weather was the big downfall - but was balmy compared to what we are used to in Evanston.
I will also say that I had my back turned to my five year old, and she got my attention as she wanted to introduce me to her new friend - a young man with some damn good fashion sense. Turned out to be Laviska Shenault - great dude.
Giving forty or whatever players access to practice film might be mildly similar to providing defense counsels access to all the security footage on Jan 6. That turned into a technologically complex and expensive exercise. I know, not nearly the same, but I have to believe that sorting and distributing practice film has to be a big effort that CU may ultimately hand over in a lump and say "have at it". A coach faced with 800 hours of tape may just say "thanks but no thanks".
No. Not even close. Film has already been made available. Withholding had nothing to do with the complexity of the process.
It’s probably not sustainable. Not at Colorado. Not in the Big XII. Not in a community like Boulder. Or with a coach like Sanders.
Sanders will at best create a bubble of quick fix relative success. But numerous players will continue to come and go. Not enough big time ballers will turn down the bigger stages. Some loosely vetted players will leave their “baggage” behind. And the “dog” that is Deion won’t be a top hunter for long.
I think Deion is a smart and very capable man. He probably has a 5 year plan leading to his next HC job. And that plan probably has no consideration for sustainability.
GOUNUII
I think NIL and open transfer are tied to each other at least philosophically. Both concepts are based on the principle that college "student athletes" are free human beings not indentured to a Billion dollar athletic system.
Right now it is a chaotic scramble because NIL deals and transfer advantage / disadvantage are both embryonic and there are very few historic patterns or statistics to show they impact each other, programs and students.
I wouldn't be surprised if NIL deals become multi year contracts that restrict high value players ability to transfer and the transfer chaos shifts mostly to second tier players who likely will not go pro and want to pursue their most advantageous college/football/academic experience.
I bet Prime has Colorado competing for championships much faster than Fitz will have for us.
Not having to deal with those pesky academics should help.
Yes. Apparently Colorado had some stringent requirements that made it difficult to get transfers in. Every previous CU had complained about it. Sanders got CU to drop them in order to get him to sign.
imagine what Fitz could do with admission requirements more in line with the other teams on the B1G?
But then we wouldn’t be Northwestern.
Should we care about Colorado? He wants his own people. If you were a player, would you stay if you weren’t wanted? He is doing what he said he would do. Sure he is an Ass, but he sees his job is to win games. How many NU players if enrolled at Colorado would have survived the purge? Doubt very many. The power has swung to the players with the portal and silly amounts for pay to play. It shouldn’t be some surprise that Coaches look out for themselves in the same manner as the player.
Coaches have always purged rosters. The transfer portal and NIL allows them to boldly do it at an astronomical rate. Popular coaches (Deion) and big program coaches with on-the-edge pay-to-play collectives are bigger winners in this environment than the players.
Mel didn’t run all the previous coach’s players in the one year he was at CU. But he also didn’t have the transfer portal situation that exists today.
