The Colorado Buffaloes‘ football program became the subject of intense interest when former NFL superstar Deion Sanders was appointed as its head coach before the 2023 season. After a 4-8 debut campaign, Sanders‘ promised program turnaround took hold in 2024, as the Buffaloes finished with a 9-4 record amidst a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign from cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter.
But Hunter — as well as Deion‘s son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders — won’t be on the team in 2025, as Colorado’s two stars prepare to begin their NFL careers. Opinion has been divided on how Coach Prime will respond to the setback of losing his two most important players — and whether their exits will alter how the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee attracts players to his growing program.
Coach Prime still won’t leave campus for recruiting visits
The answer in the short term appears to be “not much”. Sanders has achieved some notoriety for refusing to leave Boulder, Colorado on recruiting visits, preferring to have recruits come to him so they can see the school and the program’s facilities up close. To date, Sanders has not left Colorado to visit recruits — a stance that he will not change now, even though he is allotted $200,000 per year by the school to travel.
Sanders has relied heavily on the transfer portal to fill out his team, a strategy that helped Colorado to its best season in nearly a decade in 2024. The Buffaloes lost to conference rivals BYU in the Alamo Bowl, but their campaign in totality drew attention to the program and made Sanders even more intractable in his position.
“I’m too old to be going to somebody’s school, somebody’s house,” the 57-year-old Sanders told ABC in an interview last month. “All the kids that I’m recruiting, as a matter of fact, they in the portal. They’re grown men with kids. They don’t need me to come around their crib and try to convince them to come play for me, nah.”
It remains to be seen whether Sanders will change course if Colorado struggles in 2025. But for now, there is no reason for Prime to do so, especially after he enticed five-star quarterback prospect Julian Lewis to de-commit from USC and join Colorado.
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