Strike 2: Before he’d even warmed up his office chair in Boulder, Deion Sanders – ever the marketing machine – launched his wide ranging and self-promoting social media efforts, including the hashtag “#WeComing.”
He needs to add another one: “#WeGoing.”
Ah, the wonders of the Transfer Portal.
Remember, Sanders forced more than 50 guys to “hit the portal” before he even coached a game at CU. Today, after relying on the portal for roughly 80% of his most recent recruiting class, Sanders has already seen 15 of his hand selected players – including highly-ranked high school recruits and former portal additions – elect to use the portal as an escape hatch when the transfer window was reopened last week. That brings the total to 20 since the end of last season.
And off they went.
As a comparison, Deion’s counterpart in Fort Collins, Jay Norvell, has lost two players (nine total since the end of last season) since the portal opened back up, while the Buffs arch rival Nebraska has lost zero this spring.
Nobody does the portal like Deion does the portal.
While some old school Buff fans are frustrated and even worried about the state of flux in Boulder, others, including those devoted to the Cult of Deion, are passing things off by claiming it’s no big deal, and that’s just the current state of college football.
To some extent that’s true. Transferring – which not that long ago included players having to sit out an entire season when they changed schools for no good reason – is the way of the world now. Count CU athletic director Rick George among those who are growing to despise the portal and the lack of enforceable rules that surround it. It’s now basically unfettered free agency – limited only by blacked out days on the calendar. Surely some lawyer somewhere will get that changed soon, too. It won’t be long until players will be able to transfer at halftime of any given game.
Still, whether it’s allowable now or not, no other program is seeing this kind of roster turnover every time the portal doors swing open. Experts say that Deion has used the portal more than twice as much as any other program. For his part, the second-year head coach is among those brushing off the departures as being no big deal. Didn’t want those guys anyway. Keep in mind he was saying just the opposite about them when they signed with CU.
Nevertheless, this glut of off the field turnovers isn’t a good thing when a program is trying to develop continuity for the fast approaching season. Then again, IS Deion trying to build continuity? College football recruiting expert Mike Farrell put it like this: “Transfers think Deion is the shortcut to success. Deion thinks transfers are the shortcut to success. Neither side realizes there are no shortcuts to success.” Farrell means long term, sustained success.
There’s simply no way you can build and rebuild a winning team year after year using this many transfers.
Then again, there are zero signs that Deion has any intention of remaining at CU after his quarterback/son Shedeur leaves in December, so there isn’t a foundation being built at all. Just quick fixes so that Shedeur can stay upright and try to put on a show for NFL scouts this season. After the regular season is over, bowl game or not, Shedeur will have taken his final snap at CU, and Deion will likely be right behind him, Louis Vuitton luggage in tow.
Maybe a gig in Dallas is in both their futures?
And while it’s possible that Deion’s radically different recruiting and house cleaning methods are the wave of the future to some extent in college football (as some, including this space have speculated about) the foundation he’s failing to build in Boulder won’t make it any easier for the guy who replaces him.
