The ink is now dry, the incoming high school recruits are now signed, sealed and delivered (as much as they can be in the current state of college football) and the new-look Colorado Buffaloes football roster for next fall is, for the time being, complete.
Head Coach Deion Sanders has never wowed recruiting analysts with his high school signing classes, and that’s been largely by design. With the vast majority of the program’s resources devoted to the transfer portal, the high school stuff recruiting is largely back burner. This year was no different. The Buffs signed just 16 prospects, including four-star linebacker Carson Crawford out of Carthridge, Texas. They ended up #66 in the national rankings via 24/7 Sports. In terms of the Big 12 Conference the Buffs were 14th, coming in ahead of just Oklahoma State (who also went very heavy into the portal) and Baylor based mostly on quantity of recruits. In terms of “quality” Colorado was much closer to the middle of the pack based on player star ratings.
That’s for those who follow that stuff closely. Sanders doesn’t.
The Buffs coach enters his fourth season in Boulder far more focused on actual game experience at the college level, rather than projected performance for the future. His transfer portal class includes a large number of players who have played college football at the lower levels, including programs like Coastal Carolina, Lafayette, Sacramento State and Charlotte. Colorado signed three players from FCS powerhouse North Dakota State. There are also a good number for three-star players who have been at programs like Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame and Indiana. They come to Boulder looking for a bigger role.
The final numbers looked like this: CU signed 43 newcomers from the portal, while losing 36 former Buffs. Their overall ranking via 24/7 was #23. That was bolstered by three four-star newcomers, DeAndre Moore Jr. and Liona Lefau from Texas, plus safety Boo Carter from Tennessee. Their large class placed them fourth in the Big 12. By star quality rankings, the Buffs would have been in the top three in the conference along with Texas Tech and BYU.
Add the 43 portal newcomers to the 16 incoming freshman, and Sanders next team will feature 59 new faces. That’s roughly half the roster of 105.
Of course large roster turnover is nothing new to Sanders. He pretty much invented the concept when he arrived in Boulder in December of 2022 and gutted the Buffs 1-11 squad from the previous season. The difference then was the additions he was making included future Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter along with All-American quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son. All three came over from FCS Jackson State with much fanfare.
While CU hopes that redshirt freshman quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis becomes the next Shedeur – and that’s a hope based on a positive four-game stretch of appearances from last season – the prospects for the next Travis have yet to materialize. No one that Sanders has brought in appears to be ready to play on both sides of the football, but wide receiver Moore has tremendous upside as does defensive back Carter. Perhaps as a combo they can do some of the same things Hunter did as a Buffalo.
The start of Colorado’s spring football workouts has not been announced, but should be about a month away.
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