Deion Sanders opened his 2023 National Signing Day press conference with an apology.

You see, the first-year Colorado head football coach is a Florida native who has spent much of his life in the south and southwest, primarily in Texas. So while he goes out of his way to say how much he adores the weather in Boulder, he came into the Dal Ward Athletic Center on Wednesday afternoon with a runny nose, which he addressed before delving into his first recruiting class as a Power Five head coach.

It was the only thing for which he’s really had to say sorry thus far in his new role.

Two months earlier, Sanders stood behind the same microphone and in front of many of the same cameras as he was introduced as the Buffs’ new head coach, the man tasked with making what had become an afterthought of a program not only relevant, but successful in a way it hadn’t been in more than 20 years. With Sanders’ arrival, there was hope and excitement surrounding Colorado football for the first time in a long time.

On Wednesday, Sanders showed why those expectations were more than just a blind wish.

In his first significant step as the Buffs’ head coach, Sanders solidified a 2023 recruiting class this week that’s ranked 27th nationally by Rivals, the program’s best haul since 2008. In the previous 14 classes, Colorado’s average national ranking was 54th. Only three of those classes cracked the top 40. In exactly half of those 14 years, the Buffs finished outside the top 60.