The Colorado Buffaloes love making headlines under new coach Deion Sanders, but not for the wrong reasons.
Cormani McClain was the highest ranked recruit in Sanders’ 2023 recruiting class.. The five-star recruit, who was rated as the No. 1 cornerback in the country coming out of high school last year opted to choose Colorado over just about every top college in the country that had offered him.
Surprisingly, is first year with the Buffaloes didn’t go as planned and Sanders ended up calling him out publicly — leading many to believe McClain would hit the transfer portal this offseason — but he opted to stick it out with Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes for the 2024 campaign.
The call out happened back on September 26 ahead of the USC game, his debut with the Buffs, when one reporter asked Deion Sanders why the Miami flip had not seen any action yet up until that point.
Coach Prime gave a blunt answer about Cormani McCclain.
“Study. Prepare. Study. Prepare. Be on time for meetings,” Coach Prime prefaced before saying, “Show up to the darn meetings. Understand what we’re doing as a scheme. Want to play this game. Desire to play this game. Desire to be the best in this game, at practice, in the film room. Uh, and on your own free time. You do know that I check film time for each player… I need film time from the whole staff, so I can see who’s been preparing and that’s not just about Cormani, that’s about a multitude of them. So if I don’t see that, you would be a fool to put somebody out there unprepared. Can’t do it. Won’t do it. Can’t do it. I’m old school, I’m sorry.”
By mid-November, McClain got his second start in the Colorado Buffaloes loss to Arizona.
“He’s been a lot more focused, a lot more understanding of the expectation in what we want from him, that we’ve challenged him tremendously all year long,” Deion Sanders said after Saturday’s game. “He’s stood up to the task over the last probably week and a half.”
Colorado Buffaloes CB Cormani McClain Involved In Car Wreck, Cited By Police
According to a TMZ early Tuesday morning, McClain was issued a citation last week for is involvement in a car crash in Boulder.
The accident happened on Jan. 15 less than a mile away from CU’s campus — after police say McClain’s car “slid into another vehicle when trying to brake for a red light.”
Fortunately, a spokesperson for the Boulder Police Department said there were no reported injuries … and neither car suffered major damage.
Cormani McClain was issued a citation for “driving too fast for the weather conditions.”
The 5-star Colorado Buffaloes CB came to Deion Sanders program with a ton of fanfare, when he decided to flip his commitment from Miami late in the 2023 recruiting cycle to join the Buffs.
Most expected the No. 1 cornerback in the country would thrive immediately under Sanders — who is considered one of the greatest NFL players at the position of all time — but McClain struggled.
He finished the 2023 season with just 13 tackles in 10 games, but after he was called out by his coach, Sanders noticed a change.
“Just shut up and go to the damn meetings” Deion Sanders said about Cormani McClain an epic rant about his work ethic early in the season.”
But the fact he didn’t enter the transfer portal and his coach publicly announced he’s noticed significant changes in maturity could mean McClain is poised for a breakout year in 2024.
Fans have even taken to social media to point out his efforts to put on weight this offseason. Luckily, the car crash wasn’t worse and it doesn’t seem like the type of event he would be disciplined by the program for.
