Latest Update on Deion Sanders' Colorado Transfer Exodus
The mass exodus of players away from Colorado's football program has continued since our last update. Deion Sanders' program has seen 18 players enter the transfer portal since the spring game and 39 have bolted since April 15. At last count, the Buffaloes are set to only have 61 scholarship players this fall, 24 below the NCAA's limit.
Let's be clear about a few things right off the top: 1. Colorado was 1-11 last season and 2. Sanders made it clear he was going to clean house when he arrived. What makes this entire thing so crazy is the fact that -- if he is the one booting these kids out -- he's doing so at the wrong time. This kind of house cleaning should have come in December, when the transfer portal was stocked with high-end talent to replace the departing players. At this point, things are pretty bare in the portal.
As of now, Sanders will have to find 24 players to fill out his roster. The deadline to enter the portal in this window is Sunday. There's not a lot of time for the kind of players Sanders wants to flee their current teams and head to Boulder. It just feels like roster mismanagement of the highest order.
At last check the numbers projected for each position in the fall look something like this:
Quarterbacks -- 3
Runnings backs -- 3
Receivers -- 9
Tight ends -- 4
Offensive lineman -- 11
Defensive tackles -- 2
Defensive ends -- 3
Outside linebackers -- 5
Inside linebackers -- 8
Cornerbacks -- 5
Safeties -- 5
Specialists -- 3
Pretty much every position is woefully undermanned. The defense, in particular, is as thin as can be. Five total defensive linemen? Five cornerbacks? And only three specialists? Any injuries would absolutely devastate the team.
Somehow Sanders will have to fill out his roster, but there aren't a boatload of four- and five-star kids just waiting around for a call at this point in the process. So if this was his grand plan, it has enough holes to trigger trypophobia.
We'll see how this winds up working out, but the train of players leaving Colorado this week is something like we've never seen in college football. Time will tell if Sanders actually knows what he's doing.