Breaking down Colorado's massive transfer portal exodus

Updated on May 3, 2023 at 11:12 am

The mass exodus from Colorado's football roster began on April 15 as 12 players entered their names into the transfer portal on the first day it reopened, but that was just the first wave.

With spring practice over, another surge of departures is underway -- including some surprises.

Wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig was the star of the spring game Saturday, and by Sunday evening he was on his way out of the program. Colorado’s leading receiver last year, Jordyn Tyson (470 yards and 4 touchdowns), and leading rusher Deion Smith (393 yards and 2 touchdowns) followed suit on April 24 along with 36 other Buffs from the 1-11 team.

Since head coach Deion Sanders was hired on Dec. 4, he has been transparent on the roster overhaul he was (and is) implementing.

“The team we’re playing with now is not the team that we’re going to play with in Texas the first game,” Sanders said on April 8.

So far this spring, 43 new and former Buffs have entered the portal -- including four who just transferred in over the winter in Florida OL Yousef Mugharbil, Michigan DE Taylor Upshaw, JSU CB Tayvion Beasley and Arkansas State TE Seydou Traore. That doesn't include grad transfer DE Chance Main back, who left back in March, or the 12 who transferred out in December or earlier.

Main was re-offered by Colorado on on April 29.

Along with those who simply graduated or left to pursue the draft, just 12 scholarship Buffs inherited from the previous regime remain.

RELATED: Colorado Scholarship Distribution Chart | CU Transfer Portal Departures and Draft Entries | Tracking Colorado's Post-spring Transfer Additions

Sanders and his staff also added 54 new faces and now have 19 available scholarship spots. However, they are not done yet as the roster will continue to grow as the offseason progresses.

“We’ve got to make some decisions,” Sanders said after the spring game. “That’s gonna be on me now -- that was on them, now it’s on me. Any time someone quits a few days before the spring game, that should tell you a lot. God bless them, though.”

While Sanders and his staff search the portal for assets to build the team in their vision, they did lose quality talent in the process.

Here are the losses that stand out most:

Montana Lemonious-Craig officially entered the portal Monday morning and he already has 19 offers from schools such as Oregon State, Penn State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Auburn, BYU, Mississippi State and many more.

He was one of Colorado’s best receivers last season, recording 23 catches for 359 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had some big moments along the way in his time in Boulder, scoring a late touchdown to force overtime in a win over Oregon State in 2021 then hauling in the winning TD in OT against Cal in 2022 to secure the lone win last season.

He had a collection of great moments in his career at Colorado but never had a quarterback the caliber of Shedeur Sanders. The QB and WR spent a lot of time together in the offseason, and their chemistry was on full display on Saturday as Lemonious-Craig finished the spring game with 3 catches for 154 yards.

It was one final flicker of the significant potential Lemonious-Craig carries, but that will be for another program to develop now.

Lemonious-Craig finished his career at CU with 497 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Even before the Buffs took the field in 2022, the team was talking about true freshman Jordyn Tyson. His pass catching abilities and versatility created buzz during fall camp. Then in September, everyone saw the freshman back up the hype.

Before going down with a season-ending ACL injury, Tyson recorded two 100-plus-yard games against ASU (115) and Oregon (137) in back-to-back weeks.

Even though his season was cut short after eight games, he finished as CU’s leading receiver with 470 yards and 4 touchdowns with an additional 37 yards passing.

Lemonious-Craig was on the receiving end of that pass vs. Cal and it was one of Tyson’s greatest moments during his CU career.

Deion Smith was limited this spring due to a minor injury, but with his production in 2022 there were heightened expectations for his senior season.

He came to the Buffs back in 2018 and took a redshirt, gained some reps in 2019 (23 carries for 68 yards, 4 receptions for 28 yards), missed 2020 due to a knee injury and started to emerge again in 2021 with 53 carries for 192 yards with 2 touchdowns and 5 receptions for 21 yards over 11 games.

Going into 2022, with Jarek Broussard transferring out, former head coach Karl Dorrell had Alex Fontenot and Smith were battling for the job before Fontenot went down with a chest injury after the Air Force game on Sept. 10.

Smith took his long-awaited opportunity and started to shine with moments like his 41-yard reception against Arizona, his 25-yard rush with a somersault in the end zone against Air Force and his 111-yard game against ASU.

Cornerback Nikko Reed left the day the portal opened on April 15. He and Trevor Woods were interesting storylines this spring to see how they meshed with the new secondary, but for Reed, it appeared like it wasn't an ideal fit.

Along with Woods, Reed was a reliable starting sophomore defensive back and returner for the Buffs last year. He recorded 42 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 7 pass breakups and 2 interceptions – one of which was against Heisman winner Caleb Williams.

During his freshman season, CB Mehki Blackmon was injured after nine games and Reed, and at the time fellow freshman CB Kaylin Moore, stepped up in his absence.

Here’s the full list of scholarship players – including the four listed above – that have entered the portal this month (not counting the 12 who left back in November/December and DE Chance Main in March).

1. RB Jayle Stacks

2. CB Nikko Reed

3. CB Keyshon Mills

4. TE Austin Smith

5. S Dylan Dixson

6. LB Kaden Ludwick

7. DL Tyas Martin

8. DL Ryan Williams

9. CB Simeon Harris

10. DL Allan Baugh

11. DL Na'im Rodman

12. CB Joshua Wiggins

13. WR Montana Lemonious-Craig

14. WR Chase Sowell

15. CB Tyrin Taylor

16. OL Jackson Anderson

17. LB Shakaun Bowser

18. WR Jordyn Tyson

19. S Oakie Salave'a

20. LB Devin Grant

21. OL Alex Harkey

22. RB Deion Smith

23. LB Aubrey Smith

24. WR Grant Page

25. DL Aaron Austin

26. S Xavier Smith

27. RB Victor Venn

28. S Jeremy Mack Jr.

29. WR Ty Robinson

30. DL Jalen Sami

31. LB Mister Williams

32. DE Zion Magalei

33. DB Tayvion Beasley

34. OL Travis Gray

35. QB Drew Carter

36. OL Lucas Eckardt

37. OL Yousef Mugharbil

38. CB Jason Oliver

39. TE Zach Courtney

40. OL Jake Wiley

41. DE Taylor Upshaw

42. CB Nigel Bethel Jr.

43. TE Seydou Traore