Colorado athletic director Rick George is all in on Deion Sanders leading the Buffaloes.
Despite having a mass exodus of players hitting the transfer portal, Colorado athletic director Rick George continues to have his new head coach Deion Sanders’ back in all this.
This budding partnership played a big part in why Sanders left Jackson State for the worst Power Five program in the country. He felt a strong connection to George, as well as to the Colorado community. Of course, the honeymoon will be over soon if Coach Prime is unable to win games in Boulder. CU went a disastrous 1-11 last year. If the Buffs achieve bowl eligibility, that would great.
Here is what George had to say to ESPN’s Heather Dinich during Thursday’s Pac-12 spring meetings about Sanders and the state of the Colorado football program.
“I have confidence in him and his staff and they know what they’re doing. He’s been very honest and forthright. He’s been very open about it publicly and privately. He’s trying to build a winner at Colorado, and this is his way to do it.”
Since Sanders arrived in Boulder, a whopping 57 Colorado players have entered the transfer portal.
Is this a massive issue or is this merely something we all expected once Coach Prime took over?
Colorado AD Rick George has Deion Sanders’ back over its massive player exodus
During the Pac-12 meetings, George made it a point to say first-year head coaches are afforded the opportunity to cut scholarship players they inherited. While Sanders has done this, many players in-house opted to leave on their own accord. They didn’t sign up to play for Sanders, so if that isn’t something they are interested in doing, they have every right to head somewhere else.
I don’t know if this will work out for Sanders at CU, but unity is going to go a long way in this for him and George. A larger issue Colorado had dealt with prior to Sanders’ arrival was its stringent academic standards for transfer players coming in. Credits didn’t always count, which put Colorado in a less-than-advantageous situation in the transfer portal. Fortunately, that has changed quickly.
There are three ways the Buffaloes get out of their perpetual quagmire under Sanders’ guidance. They need to win in recruitment, they need to use the transfer portal effectively and they need to win a few games along the way. This isn’t going to be an overnight fix. Everybody involved knows this. However, all parties involved have to stay the course to allow for this plan of theirs to happen.
As long as Colorado remains united in getting this thing, then they will have their chance to do so.