After a month and a half of assembling the new personnel for CU football, head coach Deion Sanders brought new and old Buffs, players and coaches alike, together on Monday for Colorado football’s first team meeting.
Defensive and offensive players sat on their respective sides while Sanders gave the players the rundown of what their futures hold. “You gotta want it and we gonna be able to tell if you want it or not,” Sanders said in CU Football’s twitter snippet.
Some more vocal than others, each coach introduced himself and explained what he wants to see out of the players while emphasizing the importance to win.
Defensive coordinator Charles Kelly, previously Alabama’s associate defensive coordinator and safeties coach, made it clear that he came to Colorado to earn victories.
“I came here because of one thing: his standard and we will win now,” he said. “That’s what we’re here to do.” Kelly followed up by relaying his resume to the group, listing off Alabama, Tennessee and Florida State.
“But I’m used to winning,” he said. “But I’m used to being around people that have high standards, that's why I’m working here.”
CU’s new strength and conditioning coach Maurice Sims gave the first introduction in the video. He also named off other members of the strength and conditioning staff, Tersoo Uhaa (Georgia), Stephen Houson (Purdue), Brandon Reyes (Army) and Rendrick Taylor.
Special teams coach Trevor Riley was a new and unfamiliar face in Sanders’ coaching staff that appeared in the video. Riley worked at JSU with Sanders, and before JSU, he worked as an administrative analyst at Utah.
New defensive tackles coach Pat Hill, also not listed on the CU Buffs coaching roster yet, previously worked as an defensive analyst for LSU. “Be physical, fast and have a bunch of fun,” he said. “Love you guys, excited to be here.”
New offensive coordinator Sean Lewis said in his introduction, “I like to go fast, think fast, do fast.” His sentiment to the players was certainly communicated in a similar fashion hitting a 25-second intro.
Former coaching partner at Kent State Bill O’Boyle followed up Lewis, providing an even faster introduction. “Coach O’Boyle offensive line coach,” he said. “It’s an honor to be here and I can’t wait to get started.”
“That’s it?” Sanders joked after.
Tight ends coach Tim Brewster had a more strenuous, militarized introduction commanding the players to, “stand tall,” and “sit your ass back down.”
“We coming!” the players exclaimed after Brewster yelled.
“When those Colorado Buff buses show up…60 minutes of hell come with them.” Brewster said. “Sixty minutes of hell coming with it,” he yelled “The time is now man, the time is NOW. Sit down.”
Close coaching companions to Sanders, LBs coach Andre Hart and DBs coach Kevin Mathis noted their long-time relationship with the CU head coach. They and running backs coach Gary "Flea" Harrell worked with Sanders for the last three years at JSU.
"We will win because of what you will do," Harrell said. "Y'all follow me? So y'all got to bring that energy off the field, in the classroom, on the field, weight room, you got to make sure you do the best you."
Wide receivers coach Brett Bartolone worked as JSU's offensive coordinator last season. He opened his door to the players to come talk to. "I don't care who you are, I'm always open to talk," he said. "I know you guys are going through a lot. You guys need someone to talk to come chop it up with me upstairs."
Defensive ends coach Nick Williams who previously worked at Georgia then Texas A&M said, "I'm gonna give you all I got and I expect the same in return. I'm a high energy guy. I love what I do, I'm passionate about it and I think you guys will see that."
The video concluded with athletic director Rick George, reading a quote from Sanders, “No more excuses are blamed take responsibility of your life and win one small victory at a time until winning becomes a habit. We have to make winning become a habit here in Colorado.”
Also named in the video: general manager David Kelly, director of player personnel Corey Phillips, defensive analyst Vincent Dancy, director of quality control Dennis Thurman, football operations leader Reginald Calhoun, chief of staff of Ray Forsett, director of player development James Chaney, offensive quality control analyst Michael Pollock.