{"id":388179,"date":"2025-11-18T18:58:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/388179\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T18:58:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:58:15","slug":"what-went-wrong-with-deion-sanders-roster-at-colorado-experts-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/388179\/","title":{"rendered":"What went wrong with Deion Sanders\u2019 roster at Colorado? Experts weigh in"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the third release of the 2025 College Football Playoff Rankings.<\/a><\/p>\n

There are two games left on Colorado\u2019s schedule, but for all intents and purposes, Deion Sanders\u2019 third season in Boulder can be chalked up as a lost year.<\/p>\n

The Buffaloes, at 3-7 overall and 1-6 in Big 12 play, have been among the worst Power 4 teams in the country this fall. They rank 108th nationally in scoring offense, 107th in scoring defense, 107th in yards per play and 108th in yards per play allowed.<\/p>\n

This is a far cry from where most expected the program to be in Sanders\u2019 third year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege rosters are a blank canvas where it\u2019s not like you have to wait a few years to rebuild,\u201d a Big 12 assistant coach said. \u201cHe\u2019s had plenty enough time to build a program.\u201d<\/p>\n

To gain a better sense of the Buffaloes\u2019 issues, The Athletic spoke to coaches and personnel staffers around the Big 12 to find out what went wrong with Colorado\u2019s roster this season. They were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always difficult to replace a Heisman Trophy winner.<\/p>\n

The Buffaloes figured to regress a bit after losing two-way star Travis Hunter, who made such an impact as a playmaker at receiver and as a cornerback in the secondary. They also lost quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who shouldered a heavy load for the offense, and two Day 3 NFL Draft picks at receiver in LaJohntay Wester and Jimmy Horn.<\/p>\n

As he does every offseason, Sanders hit the transfer portal aggressively to bolster his roster. The headlining addition of the 33-man class was Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter, but Colorado also signed some others who created optimism among the fan base \u2014 defensive linemen Jehiem Oatis (Alabama) and Gavriel Lightfoot (Fresno State) and receivers Sincere Brown (FCS Campbell), Hykeem Williams (Florida State) and Joseph Williams (Tulsa). There were also transfers from SEC programs such as Auburn, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ole Miss.<\/p>\n

But this group has largely fizzled, and as a result, the program took a significant step back after the breakthrough 2024 season, when it went 9-4 and remained in Big 12 title contention late in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take a look at a lot of the guys that they brought in, there wasn\u2019t a ton of production,\u201d a Big 12 general manager said. \u201cThey took a bunch of Power 4 big names, big (recruiting) star guys, and they put them in with the expectation that they were going to have big jumps. And they just didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Big 12 personnel staffer said: \u201cWe say it all the time at our place: If a player can\u2019t develop at a place like Alabama or Georgia, where they have every resource, why are they going to come here and be any better or different?\u201d<\/p>\n

Salter was one of the players with a history of production. In 2023, he threw for 2,876 yards, rushed for 1,089 and accounted for 44 total touchdowns while leading Liberty to a Conference USA championship and a Fiesta Bowl appearance.<\/p>\n

His numbers dipped across the board in 2024, but he was still an enticing option for several programs when he entered the transfer portal in the offseason. Landing him was seemingly a solid get for Colorado.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Colorado has turned to true freshman Julian Lewis at quarterback. (Ben Queen \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

In the best-case scenario, Salter would bridge the gap from Shedeur Sanders to Julian Lewis, a current freshman and former top-50 recruit, in 2026.<\/p>\n

However, Salter\u2019s been a bad fit in the Buffaloes\u2019 offense. He was benched after just two games, and regained the starting nod after one game only to be benched again earlier this month in favor of Lewis.<\/p>\n

Salter has thrown for 1,242 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions this season. He\u2019s rushed 293 yards and five touchdowns but is averaging a career-low 3.3 yards per carry \u2014 due in part to the 16 times he\u2019s been sacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in a pro-style system now, NFL, (with offensive coordinator) Pat Shurmur, pocket passer-(friendly),\u201d the general manager said, \u201cand when that kid was good at Liberty, they were running the hell out of him. So I think that was part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his second-to-last start against Utah, Salter completed 9 of 22 attempts for 37 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. In his last start, against Arizona, he completed 11 of 15 passes but for only 49 yards, one touchdown and one interception.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s performance in those games was troubling. The Buffaloes lost 53-7 at Utah and were outgained 398 to minus-18 in the first half. The following week, they lost 52-17 at home to Arizona.<\/p>\n

Those were the sort of blowout losses that came to define the later stages of Karl Dorrell\u2019s tenure. At the very least, Sanders was supposed to make the program much more competitive.<\/p>\n

To Colorado\u2019s credit, they showed more fight two weeks ago in a road game at West Virginia. However, the result, a 29-22 loss, was still unsatisfactory. That clinched Sanders\u2019 second losing campaign in three seasons at the helm.<\/p>\n

And with a transfer-heavy roster, there will be questions about what sort of spirit Colorado will demonstrate given there\u2019s nothing left to play for over these next two games \u2014 at home versus Arizona State and at Kansas State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started the year off not well,\u201d the general manager said. \u201cIt was like a little bit of the snowball effect that the guys that had just never really been there, and they hadn\u2019t really done that. So I think that hurt them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first Big 12 assistant coach said, \u201cPutting the roster together is like buying lottery tickets. He kind of hit on more mean dudes on their roster last year that played with more grit and tenacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 roster-building strategy is well known. He\u2019s going to sign small high school classes and rely heavily on the transfer portal to fill out the majority of his roster. He signed a total of 27 high school players in his two full recruiting cycles, 12 in the Class of 2024 and 15 in the Class of 2025. With the early signing period less than a month away, the 2026 class sits at only 12 commitments and does not include a player ranked in the top 200 nationally in the 247Sports Composite.<\/p>\n

Sanders notoriously does not hit the road to recruit high school players \u2014 whether that\u2019s visiting campuses or making in-home visits. To be fair, he had a cancerous tumor in his bladder this offseason<\/a> and has dealt with blood clots. However, his reluctance to leave campus to recruit predates his recent health issues.<\/p>\n

For the most part, Sanders goes all in on one five-star or top-100 prospect every cycle and makes a big splash. Last year, it was Lewis, who was the No. 50 overall prospect and had been a long-time USC commitment. Five-star offensive tackle Jordan Seaton was the major get in the 2024 cycle. And five-star corner Cormani McClain, who eventually transferred to Florida, was the centerpiece of Sanders\u2019 first class.<\/p>\n

While those were good additions, Colorado has not brought in nearly enough high-end talent during Sanders\u2019 time in Boulder. And the roster isn\u2019t very balanced.<\/p>\n

The receivers are good, the defensive backs have some talent, but Colorado is struggling along the line of scrimmage, just like it was in Sanders\u2019 first season.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege football is not about the first-round picks,\u201d the first assistant coach said. \u201cCollege football is about the Day 3 guys. Your fifth-, sixth-, seventh-round picks. That\u2019s what college football is about. That\u2019s what makes your roster competitive. You can\u2019t have a five-star with a bunch of minions.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be clear, Colorado isn\u2019t having a bad season because it takes a lot of transfers. Lane Kiffin has followed a similar plan at Ole Miss and has the Rebels\u00a0poised to make their first trip to the College Football Playoff this season.<\/p>\n

But when you sign small high school classes, you\u2019ve got to hit on your transfers. So when you miss with those evaluations, like Colorado has done this year, things can go sideways.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Transfers) usually aren\u2019t there very long, so they\u2019re just trying to get in and get out of there,\u201d the personnel staffer said. \u201cThey take a few high school kids, but that\u2019s the only way to have a mature roster, is to have people there for a few years who know what it\u2019s supposed to look like (in the program).\u201d<\/p>\n

Once this season ends, it\u2019ll be fascinating to see if Sanders changes his approach to accumulating talent as well as the composition of his coaching staff, which includes several former NFL players who didn\u2019t have any collegiate coaching experience. This year has clearly illustrated that the current approach isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think you\u2019re going to show up and finesse college football,\u201d the first assistant coach said. \u201cWell, college football\u2019s got a lot more variables going on and you\u2019ve got to make sure you\u2019re hitting on all cylinders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the third release of the 2025 College Football Playoff Rankings. There are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":388180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1428,22748,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-388179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-colorado-buffaloes","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115572239348103912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}