Perhaps the biggest challenge staring down Deion Sanders as he takes over as Colorado’s head football coach is the most obvious reason why Sanders is there and why his new employer even made a change in the first place – the Buffs’ roster.
As it stumbled its way to a 1-11 record last season, Colorado sported what was very likely the least talented squad among Power Five programs, something that became abundantly clear as the Buffs lost those 11 games by an average of almost 30 points per contest.
Sanders’ aura and effectiveness as a recruiter was one of the biggest reasons why he was able to make the jump directly from a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program to a Power Five one. As he goes about assembling his first roster in Boulder, both through high-school recruits and college players in the transfer portal, virtually every position will have to be addressed in a thorough and meaningful way.
Before Sanders is officially introduced as the Buffs’ coach on Sunday and before the transfer portal opens on Monday, let’s take a look at the most pressing roster priorities.
1. Quarterback
The game’s most important position is also the Buffs’ biggest area of need. This past season, Colorado used four different starting quarterbacks. The starter for the season-opener, Brendon Lewis, was benched after the Buffs’ first game and by mid-October, he was in the transfer portal. His replacement, J.T. Shrout, struggled with accuracy and decision-making and was soon benched, as well, only to re-emerge as the starter out of necessity after freshman Owen McCown was injured. Under normal circumstances, McCown would have entered this offseason as the presumed starter for 2023, but, well, these obviously aren’t normal circumstances. On Thursday, two days before Sanders’ hire was made official, McCown announced that he was entering the portal.
While Sanders doesn’t have much to inherit at the position, that’s not at all a bad thing. Even McCown, who showed off some impressive traits in his three starts, is an undersized player who was the best of a handful of bad options. On a better, more talented and deeper team, he almost certainly would have redshirted.
Unlike some of the other positions we’ll address, the answer at quarterback is obvious – and it’s someone Sanders knows quite well. Sanders’ son, Shedeur, just wrapped up a stellar sophomore season at Jackson State in which he threw for 3,403 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions. A 6-foot-2 sophomore, Sanders was a three-star recruit coming out of high school and immediately proved himself as one of the top players at his level of college football. This season, he is one of the finalists for the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the top player in the FCS.
In a press conference earlier this week, Sanders implied that his son will follow him if he took a job elsewhere. With Colorado now being that destination, it’s a possibility and even a likelihood that Coach Prime will not only bring himself, but his presumptive starter under center for the 2023 season opener.
