College Football

Should Colorado players feel 'blindsided' by Deion Sanders' roster overhaul?

Published May. 8, 2023 5:44 p.m. ET

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Whether you agree or disagree with the way Deion Sanders is going about transforming Colorado’s football program, you can’t say that players were blindsided by it.

That is FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt’s take, referencing the well-documented face-to-face meeting Sanders had with Colorado players shortly after being named the program's head coach back in early December. 

"We got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my own luggage with me," Sanders told the players. "And it’s Louis [Vuitton]."

Since that speech was delivered, Colorado has had more than 50 players from last year's team enter college football's transfer portal, with 43 coming in the last month alone.

As of Monday, the tally of returning scholarship players from Colorado’s 2022 roster is down to just 14. College football programs are allowed an allotment of 85 scholarships, meaning that more than 83% of Colorado’s 2023 roster will consist of new scholarship players.

The mass exodus from Boulder has been a dominant storyline in college football throughout the spring, but according to Klatt, this was always part of Sanders’ plan, and in large respect, it’s working exactly how he wanted it to.

"In part, you have to realize that this what kind of the point with hiring Deion Sanders at Colorado," Klatt said on a recent episode of his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show." "He comes into Boulder to do a lot of things, but one of them is to make Colorado relevant.

"In the first meeting he had with his players, he laid out exactly what was going to happen over the next few months. If you want to say that’s not right and you don’t like it, that’s your prerogative, and I’m not gonna tell you that you’re wrong. You can say it’s not good for the sport or it’s bad for the kids, and I totally understand that. But you can’t say that they were blindsided because this was the plan, behind the scenes and to their face."

To understand why Sanders made the decision to completely overhaul last year’s roster, look no further than the Buffaloes' record this past season and the team’s margin of defeat in those games.

Colorado finished the 2022 campaign with a 1-11 mark and lost those 11 games by average of 29 points per contest. The team lost 10 of those games by 23-or-more points, including three games by 42-plus points. On offense, the Buffaloes were able to top 21 points on one occasion last season, while the defense allowed at least 38 points in 11 games.

"What was he supposed to do?" Klatt questioned. "He’s got one of two paths: He can say he’s gonna coach those players better, but that’s impossible. Or, you can turn over the roster, which is totally within his purview and within his rules. 

"A lot of coaches have had to go in and turn over rosters, but guess what? No one else has had to turn over a roster that was 1-11 and lost all 11 games by an average of 29 points, which is the fourth-worst point differential for any Power 5 school this century. If you're gonna go the one road and turn over the roster, you've got to turn over the whole roster, because there was nothing left."

While the Buffaloes have lost more than 80% of their 2022 roster, they have also attracted plenty of new talent to Boulder. Colorado has added nearly 40 players to the roster via the transfer portal since last December, including 10 over the past two weeks.

It is possible Sanders and the Buffalos don’t have 85 scholarship players on the roster when the team kicks off its season on Sept. 2 at TCU, but according to Klatt, that shouldn’t concern Sanders.

"I don’t think that bothers Coach Prime because let’s say they get to 65," Klatt said. "I guarantee you that those 65 are better than the 85 players they had last year.

"[Deion] had to turn over this roster. He had to do it in a drastic way, and that is exactly what is happening."

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