Last season, Colorado Football brought in 51 transfer portal players in an unprecedented strategy by new Head Coach Deion Sanders. The strategy seemed to, in some ways, work with the Buffs starting the season with big wins against TCU and Nebraska, but the team later wavered to a 4-8 record and a six-game losing streak to finish out the season.
Everyone knew Coach Prime was never going to be a conventional coach, but some may have thought that perhaps he would take a small step back and go a more conventional route by recruiting more high school players and fewer transfer players.
Once again, Deion Sanders is being Deion Sanders.
Following National Signing Day, Colorado ranked last in the P5 in high school recruiting, and 98th overall. Teams like Texas State, Eastern Michigan, and Miami of Ohio all ranked ahead of Colorado, according to 247 Sports, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. There is not another team in the country that could be feeling at least okay about their position with incoming players other than Colorado Football, yet here we are.
Colorado is the Top Transfer Portal Destination
The average team in college football has three to four transfer portal players committed to them at this early stage of the transfer season. Colorado has 16. And these aren’t just 16 random transfers, these are some of the most targeted transfers, including six 4-star rated players.
The fact that Colorado is pulling in the top transfer class to this point despite a 4-8 record shows that there is still a lot of belief in Coach Prime’s vision. To put in perspective how crazy it is that Colorado is having this kind of success, the next team with a losing record in the transfer rankings is South Carolina who has 9 transfers of their own but also in the SEC, which tends to grade very well compared to Big XII or ACC teams.
Is there a legitimate plan for Colorado football beyond this season? pic.twitter.com/BnymNK9Eoo
— Brad Powers (@BradPowers7) December 21, 2023
Utilizing the Transfer Portal Primarily Makes a Lot of Sense… In Theory
Theoretically, it makes sense. Why go after unproven high school talent when you can go after players who have played at the college level and been successful? Think of it sort of like going for it on 4th down. For years the analytics said that going for it on 4th down, or at least treating 3rd down as a chance to set up 4th down, made a lot of sense. However, because of tradition and fear of going rogue and getting fired, coaches were very hesitant to try to convert unless in dire situations.
Just ten years ago, only California averaged more than three 4th down conversion attempts per game. This past season, there were 11 teams who made as many attempts. The average team this past season attempted 1.8 attempts per game, significantly higher than the 1.2 attempts a decade ago.
Colorado Football Controls the Future Narrative
There are probably dozens of teams wanting and hoping to rely more on the portal but are hesitant to go all-in until it is a proven strategy. If Colorado Football is able to have a winning record this season, despite a 98th-ranked HS recruiting class, watch for other teams to follow. If the opposite happens, it may be a while until another team goes full send on the transfer portal.
But Coach Prime is not like other coaches. He is confident in his approach and doesn’t care what others think about his coaching style. He knows that if this works, even to a 6-6 record, he will forever change the college game. It is now just a waiting game to see whether it all pays off or not.
