Colorado Football Preview 2026: Can Deion Sanders Shock the World Again?

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Deion Sanders is trying to restart the party.

After a brutal five-game losing streak to close out the Big 12 season – and the 16th time in 18 years that Colorado failed to win more than three conference games – Coach Prime is all but starting over, and there's something to that.

If your team isn't good in the transfer portal era – even if it's one you put together – then go try to make it good with better players.

The problem with that is then there's no cohesion or consistency, and that became painfully apparent last year.

Coach Prime's Buffaloes Are Starting Over

When you lose transcendent players who made magical things happen over and over again like Shedeur and Travis did, there has to be something in place to fill the void when they're gone.

That's when you need a rock-solid foundation to build off of, and then go try to find the superstars who can work off of what's in place.

And now, Colorado has an even tougher schedule – last year's team didn't have to deal with Texas Tech or Arizona State, and it had two games outside of the Power Four, and now it has one – zero continuity, and …

Maybe it'll work. Or maybe the fun of 2024 go down as a wild blast of a blip.

– 2026 Colorado Schedule Analysis

Colorado Quick Hits

• Head Coach: Deion Sanders (4th year, 16-21; 7th year overall ,43-27)
• Best Case / Worst Case: Get and stay in Big 12 title contention/Colorado is the worst team in the Big 12
• Key Player: Julian Lewis, QB RFr.
• 2025 Record: 3-9
• Biggest Question: Can the offensive line loaded with transfers be night-and-day better?

Colorado Key 2025 Stats

• Sacks: Opponents 38 for 297 yards, Colorado 13 for 77 yards
• Passing Yards: Opponents 2,438, Colorado 2,434
• Scoring: Opponents 366 points, Colorado 251 points

Offense

Brennan Marion comes in as the new offensive coordinator with a reputation for coaching up high-powered attacks led by a great ground game. The Buffs are ready.

Colorado finished 114th in the nation in total offense, 110th in rushing, and it only scored 20.9 points per game.

There's a lot of talent around, but it all has to mesh, especially on the offensive line.

What’s Working

The receiving corps is loaded. Danny Scudero is a smallish- quick target who dominated last season for San Jose State, catching 88 passes for 1,297 yards and ten scores. 

DeAndre Moore is one of the nation's top-rated transfers coming in from Texas, and Joseph Williams is back after finishing second on the team last year with 37 catches for 489 yards.

Julian Lewis is a talent. A great recruit for the program last season, the redshirt freshman quarterback took his lumps, but he showed signs of potential greatness.

He needs to be more accurate, but he's got the tools to blow up helped by the receiving corps in place. 

Get the passing game going again. Colorado hasn't done much of anything on the ground in the Coach Prime era, and last year the passing attack didn't pick up the slack.

However, the Buffs went 3-1 when getting to 255 yards or more. This offense needs to hit that mark stepping off the team bus.

What Needs Work

(This can't be screamed loud enough …) THE OFFENSIVE LINE.

Much more on this later, but this has been the entire problem with Colorado over the last three seasons. There's been talent, but zero patience – you can't just throw five good transfer blockers out there and expect it all to fit.

There are a few holdovers from last year, but once again, it's all about the quick fixes from the portal to try making this better.

The running game. It's not that there isn't a commitment to it. It's that the offense hasn't had a chance to establish it when it tries to keep up.

The Buffaloes averaged 3.5 yards per carry, and only Oklahoma State was worse on the ground.

Scoring. The defense wasn't all that bad – it'll be interesting with all transfers this year – but the offense almost never held up its end of the bargain.

Colorado was 3-0 when scoring 24 points or more, 0-9 when scoring fewer. Under Sanders, the Buffs are 0-17 when they didn't get to at least 24 points.

Player to Watch

Bo Hughley, OT Jr.
Just put in the entire offensive line here. Almost all the backups are transfers, and the 6-7, 295-pound Hughley from Georgia is one of at least three transfers who'll get the starting gig. 

All he has to do is take over for Jordan Seaton – one of the top linemen in the portal, who went to LSU – and be a top pass blocker to work around.

Defense

The defense had a rough season, but it didn't get a lick of help from the offensive side. Now it's up to former Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Chris Marve to make this bunch even better.

And he has to do it with a defense entirely full of transfers.

What’s Working

New players. This constant changing of players on offense hasn't been a plus, but when you finish 121st in the nation and dead last in the Big 12 in total defense, starting from scratch isn't the worst idea.

Be shocked if all 11 starters aren't transfers.

The linebackers coming in are fantastic. Wide receiver was the team's best position of transfers, and linebacker isn't all that far behind.

Gideon Lampron tackled just about everything at Bowling Green, and Liona Lefau was a tremendous signing out of Texas. 

He might not be a big national name, but Tyler Martinez was one of the best linebackers in America two years ago – making 96 stops at New Mexico State – but was hurt last year. Now he's a Buffalo.

Who doesn't want to play defensive back for Deion Sanders? Boo Carter is a tremendous safety talent coming in from Tennessee, corner Cree Thomas has a world of upside from Notre Dame, and Justin Eaglin is a baller from James Madison.

What Needs Work

All Transfers. Seriously – outside of three reserves – safety Ben Finneseth and corners Makari Vicker and RJ Johnson – there's almost no one back who did much of anything last year.

Colorado's two-deep will be almost all transfers, and …

Other than linebacker Liona Lefau, there aren't a ton of high-end, Power Four talents with any meaningful production coming in for the defensive side.

The Buffaloes are going with a strength-in-numbers thing, but the strength is in the productive Group of Six and FCS players who need to be up to speed right away.

The sacks have to emerge. The staff loaded up on edge rushers from the portal, but again, they're almost all from Group of Six programs, with the hope that a good rotation will form around a few who rise into the roles.

Any production will be an improvement from a defense that managed just 13 sacks last season with no more than two in any game.

Player to Watch

Liona Lefau, LB Sr.
The Texas transfer has the right combination of size, quickness, and experience, making 131 tackles with three sacks and eight tackles for loss over the last two years. He'll be a statistical superstar in this D.

Keys to the Season

• The offensive line has to finally be something other than a painful negative.
• The defensive line has to be disruptive overall, and stronger against the run.
• The coaching staff has to find real players out of the massive haul of transfers.

Player Who Needs To Shine

Julian Lewis, QB RFr.
No one wanted to admit it at the time, and no one will ever give him his just due – Shedeur Sanders, even with all the media hype and bluster, was still wildly underappreciated.

(His two seasons were statistically historic, especially behind a line that couldn't keep him from getting blasted.)

Lewis was a gigantic recruit to be the one to take over, and somehow, he'll have to crank up the offensive production like Shedeur did to make up for all of the team's other problems.

Biggest Concern

Pass protection.

This has to be fixed.

The Buffaloes were 125th in the nation in sacks allowed, giving up over three per game. They were 126th in 2024, allowing 3.31 per game, and were 132nd – second-worst in the nation – in 2023, giving up 4.67 per game.

Nothing improves until the line can handle any sort of pressure.

Biggest Game

at Georgia Tech, September 5
Few programs need to get off to a hot start more than Colorado.

After the way last year ended, a disastrous performance in Atlanta – with road games to Northwestern and Baylor coming up at the end of September – would likely crush any positive momentum before the season gets going.

Transfer Portal

Can this group of transfers turn everything back around? The Buffaloes have real players to get excited about.

As always, Coach Prime didn't have a problem attracting a slew of top players with a massive emphasis on the offensive front. Now all the parts have come together in a hurry.

Best Signing

DeAndre Moore Jr. WR (Texas)
Moore might not lead the team in receiving – that will be Danny Scudero from San Jose State – but he'll be the most dangerous deep threat.

He's still trying to get healthy after missing time last season, but he's an elite talent who caught 77 passes for 988 yards and 11 touchdowns over the last two years. 

Biggest Loss

Jordan Seaton, OT (LSU)
You don't get better after losing an NFL-caliber offensive tackle.

Seaton is a 6-5, 300+ pound powerhouse – he works between 310 and 320 – who was an elite recruit for Colorado. Now he'll be a key part of the LSU line.

Other Names to Know

• Boo Carter, S (Tennessee)
• Leon Bell, OT (Cal)
• Cree Thomas, CB (Notre Dame)

CFN Season Prediction

This isn't a "nobody believes in us" sort of thing that coaches like to use as motivation. It's more like a "what is this?" type of team.

How do you possibly predict what's coming for a Power Four program that's changing almost everything about the personnel, and with two new coordinators?

It's not even that Colorado is bringing in over 40 transfers who are expected to do meaningful things; it's that there aren't enough obviously elite stars.

When will Colorado be the favorite other than the Weber State paycheck date?

CFN Prediction: 3-9

At Georgia Tech, at Northwestern – those are part of a run of three road games in the first four weeks, before facing Texas Tech and Utah. 

Maybe there's a win in the regular season finale against UCF, and there should be a good performance or two somewhere to come up with a few wins, but …

Colorado might have enough in place to come up with a fun short-range run, but is it sustainable for a full season?

Related: 26 for 2026: 26 Key Questions for the Big 12 Football Season

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