Colorado coach Deion Sanders will be under immense pressure to turn around the Buffaloes’ performances next season after a woeful 3-9 record last year. The Buffs coach continued his radical roster turnover, recruiting 42 and letting 34 players go via the transfer portal.
On Tuesday, ESPN analyst Dan Wetzel addressed whether Coach Prime would last at Colorado after dealing with severe health issues last year.
ESPN Analyst Makes Brutal Deion Sanders Prediction
Wetzel pinpointed Sanders’ recruitment approach in recent years as a major failure from Coach Prime after losing the talents of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders to the NFL last year.
PREDICT THE CFB SEASON: PFN’s Free CFB Playoff Predictor
“How long this lasts, I think, is up to Coach Prime and what he wants to do going forward,” Wetzel said. “The momentum of the program that they had is not there anymore. Travis Hunter isn’t coming back, and he hasn’t done a great job of finding a parade of other Travis Hunters that just want to come and play for Deion Sanders. Can he still? I think he can. Will he?
“That’s really going to be a matter of it. They’re recruiting more high school players now, which is interesting, than they did when he was really like, ‘I don’t need them,’ which was a high-wire act of a strategy, and it worked for a little while, but not yet.”
Coach Prime’s first season in Colorado revived the Buffaloes as a relevant force, and Boulder became the mecca of college football with celebrities attending games every weekend. Despite finishing with a 4-8 record, the Buffs were one of college football’s most visible teams.
With Shedeur Sanders under center and Hunter playing on both sides of the ball, the Buffs recorded a 9-4 season in 2024. The team barely missed the Big 12 championship game.
START PREPARING: PFN’s Free College Fantasy Simulator
Last season, Colorado slipped back into inconsistency as Coach Prime struggled to replace his son under center and Hunter’s brilliance. Sanders has recruited the No. 26-ranked transfer portal class in the country to address the team’s issues.
Wetzel was not all doom and gloom about the Buffs’ talent, highlighting quarterback Julian Lewis as a possible replacement for Shedeur Sanders.
“They do have Julian Lewis, who came in to follow Shedeur Sanders, and he’s a know high end player there,” Wetzel said. “They’ve got some high-end talent around there, but do they have the depth of this program? And can he write it? It’s not trending well.
“3-9, I don’t know how many they win this year, but I think I’m going to give them a pass due to the health situation and how much Coach Prime wants to make this work in the next three to four years.”
Colorado regressed on both sides of the ball last season, earning a PFN College Offense Impact score of 74.4 (No. 80 in the country) and a PFN Defense Impact score of 73.7 (No. 77 in the country).
Sanders addressed the Buffs’ deficiencies by hiring Chris Marve and Brennan Marion as the team’s new defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively.
