When Deion Sanders was hired as Colorado's head coach, there were a few things that needed to be done. Winning more games was the obvious goal, but this program needed more than that. It needed a culture shift.

That doesn’t happen just because of one person. Sure, Sanders is at the tip of the spear, but it would be impossible to establish a winning culture if there weren’t players who helped create it.

Defensive end Jordan Domineck, a transfer from Arkansas playing his final season at CU in 2023, has been one of those culture-setting players for this new Colorado regime.

“As a senior leaving, it’s just great to know that the program I’m leaving is gonna be in great hands,” Domineck said.

The program seemingly is in great hands heading into 2024, and that’s thanks in no small part to the contributions of the Florida native. Domineck has been one of the most consistent forces on the Buffs’ defense, a unit that has gotten better and better as the season has progressed.

On the season, Domineck has registered 39 total tackles, good for fifth on the team and tops among the defensive line group. He has also lived in opposing backfields, notching 10.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks, including 2 of each in his monster game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

“He’s a leader, he makes plays,” defensive ends coach Nick Williams said of Domineck. “He has a variety of different plays. He’s had sacks, we want him to get more sacks. He’s got TFL’s. He understands the integrity of the defense. He’s been in the SEC. So every week we have a lot of changes, and he’s able to grasp and understand the changes, and then apply them. But you need a guy that’s been through it like he has. He’s been a blessing for us.”

Domineck isn’t just putting the hard work in on Saturdays though. He’s a college football veteran and knows how to get himself ready for gameday. He is playing his sixth season of college football, after spending four years at Georgia Tech and last season at Arkansas.

He has been productive everywhere he’s been, tallying 9 sacks during his time with the Yellow Jackets before having a career year in the SEC, racking up 7.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. All of those years in college football helped him build good habits to bring to the CU defensive end room.

“You should come watch him practice,” Williams said. “He practices hard every day. So ultimately, that’s the standard. So all the other guys practice hard. … I’ll show a lot of his tape next year, of the way it looks when you do it right.”

Domineck knows that he can pass that habit along to the younger guys in his position group, the ones that will continue to try to grow CU into the national championship contender they hope to be under Sanders. The Buffs haven’t achieved what they hoped to this year, but that new culture is starting to set in, and Domineck knows that it is vital to the future success of the Buffs.

“Just making sure everybody understands this is the kind of football that we know how to play,” Domineck said. “This is the kind of football that we can come out there and we can dominate. We’ve shown that we can dominate throughout the season. Being able to understand that if you can put 60 full minutes together -- not 30, not 45, not 15 and then another 15 later on -- if you can put a full 60 minutes together we’ve seen how dominant the CU Buffs can be. And now this year is just about putting all that together, show what we can do on film, and then we have great film to move on to next year with. So whenever the new CU Buffs come in, they understand the culture, the vibe, and what Coach Prime is looking for.”

Domineck said that he is having a “decent season” as he prepares for the final two games of his college football career, but that he feels like he’s left some stuff on the table as well. As he prepares for a reeling Washington State team followed by a stout road test at Utah, Domineck will likely be playing with a little extra motivation.

Two Colorado wins would get the Buffs to 6-6 and extend Domineck’s college career by a few extra weeks and a bowl game. As he continues to help change the culture in Boulder, that one final leap has the potential to make a huge difference in the future.