Tyler Martinez Sends Clear Message After Deion Sanders Dismisses Colorado Players
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When asked how the Colorado Buffaloes made sure that one horrible Saturday does not become a bad stretch, linebacker Tyler Martinez kept coming back to the same response: together.
"I think the biggest thing for us this week is coming together," Martinez said during Colorado's Tuesday press conference. "We need to come togetherand be a unit, you saw that Week 1 when we played as a unit."
Martinez did not make unity sound like a slogan. The timing gave his response more substance because Colorado coach Deion Sanders had just confirmed that several players are no longer with the program for conduct detrimental to the team.
Sanders said the decisions were not tied to one moment.
"It's never one thing," Sanders said. "I'm one of the most loving and giving and forgiving men you could ever meet, but when you start having conduct detrimental to the team, you don't care about the team, you care about you. I have a problem with that."
Week 1 showed what Tyler Martinez means by playing as a unit
When Martinez referenced Week 1, he had a clear example in mind. Colorado's defense did not allow an offensive touchdown at Georgia Tech and held the Yellow Jackets to 51 rushing yards on 30 carries. Georgia Tech's only touchdown came on a kickoff return.
For Martinez, playing as a unit showed up in the details. The front controlled the run, the defense recovered a fumble, and defensive back Boo Carter blocked a field goal on the final play to protect the win.
Martinez also knows what leadership inside a locker room looks like. The fifth-year linebacker was voted a team captain at New Mexico State in 2025 after leading the Aggies with 96 tackles the year before. He arrived at Colorado with a history of being one of the players teammates respected.
His 2025 season lasted only four games because of injury, but he remained one of the six players selected as team captains. He also became a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year award during that season.
Tyler Martinez says hard decisions can still serve the team
Sanders said Tuesday that he learned from how he handled problems last year.
"A year ago, I didn't put my foot down in it enough. It lingered a little bit. Then, it imploded," Sanders said.
Martinez understood what that meant for the players in the room. Losing teammates this late in September is really tough, but he did not argue that every player should stay simply to keep the roster intact.
"When you look at the big picture, if it's going to help us win, we've got to do it," Martinez said.
His response fit the same point he was trying to make when the press conference started. Coming together does not necessarily mean that everything would be kept exactly as it was from the start. It just means that the players who now remain have to trust the standard, accept the decisions around them, and keep moving with one coherent vision.
For Martinez, unity also means putting the team's interests above personal interests, especially when difficult decisions are made. The roster may now be smaller, but the expectation for the group that remains has not changed much.
Colorado opens its Big 12 play at Baylor Saturday, but Martinez has kept his focus on the current locker room atmosphere. Before the Buffaloes worry about the next opponent, he wants them to look more like the group he remembers from Week 1.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/colorado as Tyler Martinez Sends Clear Message After Deion Sanders Dismisses Colorado Players.
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