‘Where Are the Boosters Now?’ — Analysts Set Record Straight on Why Deion Sanders’ Methods Are Not Working at Colorado
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Colorado lost 41-7 to Northwestern last Saturday, and the blowout exposed cracks in a team that has been struggling on offense since last season.
The Buffaloes are 2-1 on the year, but their only two wins came against Georgia Tech (14-13) and Weber State. Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are now both in the NFL. Analysts Anthony Lima and Ken Carman believe the losses of those two players have exposed exactly what Deion Sanders’ program in Boulder was built on.
Analysts Believe NIL Reality Has Exposed Deion Sanders’ Colorado Model
Speaking on 92.3 The Fan, Lima laid out the timeline directly. He said the idea behind Colorado’s rebuild under Sanders was never really about building a program the traditional way. It was about Sanders’ name, image, and personality being enough to attract players and keep boosters engaged.
“The thought was Coach Prime was gonna be the cool program, and he was gonna get all these players, command their respect, because he’s one of the all-time great college players, great athletes, great NFL player, Hall of Famer, he’s on TV, swag, they were gonna do it differently,” Lima said on 92.3 The Fan. “And that was going to ring true with certain family sensibilities, and they were gonna recruit players and get players based on that.”
The analyst believes the increasingly money-driven NIL landscape changed the equation, making the celebrity angle less valuable in recruiting.
“And then what happened? The NIL stuff. And then it was just, hey, we don’t care, where’s the money?” Lima said. “This Deion stuff, I think, might’ve worked a decade ago. It doesn’t work now, because they don’t have money. All those rappers that were there for a year, and two years, and were on the sidelines, where’s the money?”
Co-host Carman picked up on the same thread, pointing to the boosters who showed up early in the Sanders era and then quietly disappeared.
“When they first got there, there were boosters who were willing to open up the purse strings. Where are the boosters now?” Carman said. “You can’t just commit to it for a couple of years, and that’s it. That’s not gonna be sustainable.”
Carman also acknowledged what Colorado lost when Hunter and Sanders left. He said critics can say what they want about Shedeur, but losing both of them at once was always going to be a problem that no recruiting pitch could paper over.
“You lose a Travis Hunter at a place like Colorado, you lose a lot,” Carman said. “Say what you want to about Shedeur Sanders, he was a highly successful college quarterback. You lose a lot. And what are you replacing them with?”
The answer so far is Julian Lewis, a second-year quarterback and former blue-chip recruit who Sanders has described as having “a ceiling that’s unbelievable.”
Lewis is completing 63.3% of his passes through three games for 658 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions, ranking 102nd among college quarterbacks in PFN’s CFB QB Impact score with a grade of 72.0.
The roster around Lewis was largely rebuilt through the portal. Wide receiver Danny Scudero transferred from San Jose State, where he led the nation in regular-season receiving yards last season.
Colorado also added wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. from Texas, linebacker Liona Lefau from Texas, and safety Boo Carter from Tennessee. Offensive tackle Jordan Seaton, whom the program had called “The Franchise,” left via the portal this offseason.
Colorado faces Baylor on Saturday in a road game that will say a lot more about where this program actually is than its first three results have.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos