At Colorado, ‘change agent’ Deion Sanders overhauling roster, culture

More than 47,000 fans packed into Folsom Field on a cold, wet Saturday to watch a limited-contact scrimmage. That’s around 45,000 more than last year.

This doesn’t happen at CU. The Buffaloes went 1-11 in 2022. They’ve had one winning season since 2005. They’ve lost at least 10 games five times and cycled through six coaches.

But in rode Sanders in early December, bringing along his top players from Jackson State and an unprecedented amount of flair to a dormant program.

“It was phenomenal,” Sanders told reporters Saturday. He donned a white cowboy hat and sunglasses. “I’m amazed and just stoked, if that’s the proper word, about the attendance, and about the energy and electricity, and even all of you. I’m so thankful that God led me in this direction. Now, it’s been confirmed, but today was phenomenal. I’m really happy, appreciative and thankful all at once.”

Nebraska’s hiring of Matt Rhule was safe. The former Temple and Baylor coach had already twice done what the Huskers ask of him: take over a program near the bottom rung of the college football ladder and turn it into a double-digit-win team. Bringing Rhule aboard to oversee NU’s rebuild wasn’t flashy. His past checked all the boxes.

Colorado announced Sanders as its coach a week after Nebraska hired Rhul. Their respective trajectories over the past five months have served as foils, separated by 500 miles and intersecting when the Huskers travel to Boulder on Sept. 9.

Sanders carries the risk of someone who hadn’t been a college coach before his three years at Jackson State, where his personality and marketing ability turned the FCS program into an unlikely destination for blue-chip prospects. The Tigers’ 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes were both among the top 75 in FBS.

Rhule has gone out of his way to embrace Nebraska’s tradition. He remarked after the Huskers’ first spring practice how excited he was to see the iconic red N on the helmets in person. More recently, he led a push to honor former coach Frank Solich at the spring game.

CU lacks the history of Nebraska. Not that Sanders has any interest in looking back either way.

“We have a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my luggage with me, and it’s Louis,” he told his team after being hired, comments made public in a video that circulated social media. “There ain’t gonna be no more of the mess that these wonderful fans, the student body and some of your parents have put up with for probably two decades now. I’m coming, and when I get here, it’s gonna be changed.”

Among the luggage was former top cornerback and receiver recruit Travis Hunter, who flipped his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State in 2021. Shadeur Sanders, Deion’s son and the Tigers’ quarterback of the past two seasons, also transferred to Colorado.

Naturally, there’s been a ripple effect. The Buffaloes have seen a mass exodus toward the transfer portal. Receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig caught three passes for 154 yards in the spring game Saturday. Monday, he was in the portal, as was fellow wideout Jordyn Tyson, who made 22 catches for 470 yards in 2022. They were joined by safety Tyrin Taylor and 12 more now-former Buffs who have entered the portal since Saturday.

It brought the total number of players who have left since the beginning of the 2022 season over 40. Colorado had previously been over the limit of 85 scholarships, and Sanders hinted at what was to come after the spring game, saying he would have to “make some decisions.”

Sanders went through a similar process at Jackson State, tearing down a program that hadn’t played in the postseason since 1997 before building it back up. There were around 70 recruits in attendance at Colorado’s spring game.

“A lot of coaches attack it differently,” he said. “Oftentimes the kid is holding all the cards, and you’re trying to see if he’s gonna choose you. We’re trying to see if we really want him because there’s a certain standard that we have.”

Sanders’ philosophy and aggressive approach worked at Jackson State; the Tigers went 27-6 during his tenure. Next comes the challenge, and the intrigue that comes with it, of replicating the process at a Power Five school that hasn’t had sustained success in decades.

“We’re trying our best to just build and develop and mentor and to provoke change in every area,” Sanders said Saturday. “Not just the football field. Everywhere.

“I’m a change agent. Everything I touch, it has no other possibilities but to change because that’s what we do.”