Strike 3: Deion Sanders came to Boulder at the start of December back in 2022 to take over a University of Colorado football program badly in need of a jolt. He swooped in with his cameras and his bling and the Transfer Portal – still not a favored recruiting method from most college football coaches – as his weapons of mass attraction.
Deion was chastised by many for his abrupt and pretty much ruthless manner when it came to turning over the CU roster after a miserable 2022 season. He kicked close to 75 student athletes right to the curb, and just as quickly brought back in a similar number of new recruits and transfer portal additions. The newcomers included two of his sons, Shilo and Shedeur, and a future Heisman winner in Travis Hunter. It was a whole new ball game, and team, under the Flatirons.
While most coaches – including Deion’s TV commercial co-star Nick Saban – were slow and even reluctant to adapt to the portal, Deion was at the forefront of the movement. He had Name, Image and Likeness money at his disposal and plenty of ways to show it off.
Fast forward 30 months. Things have changed – and continue to change – a lot.
Sanders and the Buffs are no longer at that forefront, as much as one exists anymore. A consensus of recruiting analysts have the Buffs well down the rankings when it comes to roster improvements via the portal. After securing the top transfer recruiting class in his first year in Boulder (CU signed 73 new players, 52 of those from the portal) and the No. 21 class overall (with 21 high schoolers added in) there’s been a steady decline. In 2024 Deion’s incoming portal class was still big – the Buffs added 43 transfers – but they dropped to 8th, and with just 21 high school recruits, 22nd overall.
For this year, CU fell to 19th among portal additions (according to 247 Sports) with “just” 32 portal additions, and dropped to 24th in overall recruiting with just 14 high school additions.
Clearly Deion no longer rules the Transfer Portal. Could that be a good thing?
Buff fans can look at this a couple of ways. Fewer portal additions could mean more continuity within the roster that returns for Deion’s third season this fall. It’s all his guys now, and not as many are leaving, or being shown the door. If you have “your guys” in place, you need fewer transfer additions, and it offers more roster stability, which should be a very good thing.
It also means that others – even the traditionalists out there that still want to sign high school kids and keep them for three or four years (good luck with that) have caught up.
Just in time for another big change.
Soon, when the final gavel falls in the NCAA vs. House court case sometime this summer, there will be new limits on NIL revenue sharing dollars as well as roster spots, making transferring a lot more difficult for players in all sports. With football teams limited to 105 players – all can be on scholarship now – and a de facto “salary cap” for every athletic department, those big paydays for players will be more limited and more spread out.
In short, a slow return to more traditional recruiting – and retention – methods will be in order. The importance of the transfer portal will be lessened, and the ability to connect with high schoolers will need to be reemphasized. To date, that hasn’t been Deion’s best thing.
This time he’s going to have to adapt.
