BOULDER– Calm down everyone. Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders isn’t going anywhere soon.
"I am here. I am here,” Coach Prime said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “My mother is here, my sister is here, my dog is here, my daughter is here, three of my sons are here and my other daughter comes out for the home games. I get mail here. Pay taxes here. I'm here."
After the Colorado Buffaloes football team started their 2023 campaign 3-0 in dramatic fashion, the Buffs have been 1-6 in the games since. The most recent loss for the Buffs happened last Saturday at Folsom Field against the No. 21 ranked Arizona Wildcats, where Colorado went ice cold in the fourth quarter and lost 34-31 on a last-second field goal.
In the wake of the loss, many sports pundits and self-proclaimed Colorado “fans” have expressed their frustrations online with CU and Coach Prime. Those frustrations, accompanied by a now open coaching spot at Texas A&M and a decommitment by a 2025 five-star recruit, have created lots of speculation this week.
“Primetime Deion Sanders in the SEC? That needs to happen,” said Stephen A. Smith Tuesday morning on ESPN’s Get Up.
Here’s the bottom line. Deion Sanders’ tenure at Colorado has been more than a success so far. Many people have forgotten that the Colorado Buffaloes were one of the sorriest teams in all of Division I football a year ago.
This program went 1-11, with the one win coming in overtime thanks to a friendly call from the officials on the game-winning touchdown that might not have been a catch. They ranked dead last in the Pac-12 in numerous categories. Folsom Field looked like a ghost town towards the end of the year, and no one could care less about Colorado football.
However, some people forget that to blame Prime. “The Miracle in Boulder is a mirage corporate and social media created for ratings and clicks,” said columnist Jason Whitlock Tuesday morning.
Whitlock also wrote an article and took to X to share his strong opinions on the Buffs, and even went as far as to compare Prime to Lavar Ball.
On the field, his changes have been large and loud, and many haven’t been fond of how he’s gone about his roster construction here at CU. Let’s be honest– last year’s team was bad. Very bad. The only way to improve a team that performed that poorly is to overhaul the roster.
Even if Colorado loses its final two contests at Washington State this Friday and at No. 22 Utah next Saturday, Prime will have increased CU’s win total by 400% from last year.
Most sportsbooks set the over/under for Colorado’s 2023 win total at 3.5 wins, and the team surpassed that. Sports Illustrated’s football power index predicted the Buffs to win 2.6 games this season.
However, once the Buffs started the season out 3-0, everyone forgot about their projections, and suddenly expected CU to be a competitor in the Pac-12. Those who thought they would be 1-11 again were silent as the Buffaloes climbed up to No. 19 in the AP Poll after week three.
Fast forward to today as the Buffs stand at 4-6. Yes, there are glaring issues with this Colorado team, as there should be with a team in year one of a rebuild. They have no identity up front on either side of the ball, they are undisciplined, and have a minimal presence on special teams. Problems like this happen at the start of a rebuild, and Coach Prime has acknowledged it too.
Yet, people are out here saying that Coach Prime is already packing his bags and that this “experiment” is a failure. Rome wasn’t built in a day, people.
Does this team feel a lot different than it did in its 45-42 opening-week win at TCU? Yes. Is this team on the right track to compete at a high level within the next two years? Also yes.
Let’s look at another big factor for Prime, which is being able to coach his kids. Say he were to leave for Texas A&M this offseason. His daughter, Shelomi, and his sons Shedeur and Shilo Sanders would all have to apply for a waiver if they were to transfer with him because they already used their one free transfer when they came to Colorado last winter.
The same goes for Travis Hunter, who followed Prime to CU, along with the countless number of players who followed Prime to Colorado via the transfer portal.
We saw this year with offensive lineman Tyler Brown, who transferred to CU from Jackson State after previously transferring to Jackson State from Louisiana, that getting a transfer waiver approved by the NCAA isn’t a walk in the park. Brown’s waiver was denied, and he was ineligible to play this year.
Prime knows this, and he’s not going to throw his kids under the bus and risk their eligibility next season to pack up and move after one year of a multi-year rebuild here at Colorado.
The other scuffle in the media this week has been regarding Winston Watkins Jr., a highly talented WR prospect in the class of 2025. Watkins decommitted from the Buffs on Sunday after previously committing back in December 2022.
This isn’t the first time Watkins has been indecisive. He committed to Texas A&M in December 2021 and then decommitted roughly two weeks before committing to Colorado.
Watkins has also played for three different high school teams since 2020. He played for Evangelical Christian (FL) as an eighth grader, IMG Academy (FL) in ninth and tenth grades, and First Baptist Academy (FL) this season in eleventh grade.
Decommitments happen all the time in college football, even LSU just lost a four-star cornerback just days ago. However, when it happens to Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes, people want to freak out and call his tenure a failure.
Many individuals in the college football world have shifted the goalposts around Coach Prime and the CU Buffs all year long based on whether the team is winning or losing. The loss against Arizona was no different, and the voices only got louder.
At the end of the day, we are still in the early stages of a massive rebuild. Coach Prime needs some time to bring major success to this program, and those who get it aren’t criticizing this situation and are letting it run its course.
This team isn’t making a bowl game unless they can win out, which is unlikely. They’ve already surpassed their preseason expectations, however, so anything further that this team does is only bonus points.
The Buffaloes’ (4-6, 1-6 Pac-12) next game is Friday night at Washington State (4-6, 1-6 Pac-12) at 8:30 p.m. MST.
Commentaires