For the last three years, Colorado football has been the center of attraction. Not because football solely but because of Deion Sanders who brought national attention to the program. But building a program in public usually brings out the opinions of those people who were there before the headlines. And now, one former Buff isn’t buying all of Coach Prime’s recruiting logic.

Appearing on the Zero 2 Sixty Podcast alongside Matt McChesney and Bailey Price, former Colorado LB Jashon Sykes called out Deion Sanders’ approach to California recruiting. 

“Success leaves clues,” he said. “And I hate that Coach Prime came out publicly and said he doesn’t recruit California. And I’m not bringing that up because I’m from California. I’m bringing it up because it was such an inexperienced head coach response. That’s what I’ll blame it on.”

No one questions the experience that Deion Sanders has in playing and coaching football. But Sykes was talking about the politics and reality of college football pipelines after living Colorado from multiple angles. An LB out of Serra High School in Los Angeles, he played at Colorado before graduating in 2001. He later worked inside the program for years as a recruiting assistant, operations director, and football relations coordinator. After that, he landed at San Diego State Aztecs as assistant AD for football operations.

“So you mean to tell me that if you were the head coach when I was coming out of high school, I wouldn’t have played at Colorado because you don’t want to recruit California kids?” Sykes added, saying he’s not taking a shot at Deion Sanders but merely as an alum that’s from California. “And I would like to think that I had a pretty good career in college. Along with many other guys from California.”

For years, California has been an important recruiting area for Colorado. The Buffs often recruited players from places like Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, and everywhere in between. Some of those players became NFL stars while others became key parts of the program. Sykes isn’t saying every California player is elite. His point was that every state has both great players and overrated ones.

“Every state, even in Florida,” he added. “You’re going to go to Florida, it’s going to be some dudes like, ooh. Everybody going to be on them. And you’re going to recruit some dudes that’s from Florida that everybody’s on, and he’s a pretender. They’re in every state. That’s your job as a coaching staff and your recruiting department to dig deep and find out who can really help your program and who can’t. And they’re in every state. There’s ballers in every state, and there’s pretenders in every state.”

To be fair, he does recruit California players. Colorado has offered prospects across the state, including 2028 Fresno QB Jamar Howard and multiple 2027 recruits like Osani Gayles, Drew Fielder, and Jeremiah Williams. The Buffs also received interest from Aaron Butler out of Calabasas in 2023 although it didn’t work out as expected. But recruiting has never been about geography alone. It’s about relationship building. And that’s where Deion Sanders’ unconventional style keeps creating tension.

Deion Sanders recruiting approach is different

Deion Sanders’ approach is different from traditional recruiting culture. He rarely makes off-campus visits and avoids the classic high school tours and most recruiting conversations happen from Boulder. Under him, transfers remain the priority in roster construction. And he has openly preferred recruiting heavily from Texas, Florida, and the South.

Some people see that as a smart new approach. But others feel it ignores the importance of building strong relationships with local high schools. Colorado’s new AD, Fernando Lovo, seems to agree, as he has made reconnecting with Colorado high schools one of his main priorities after coming from New Mexico. That comes after Deion Sanders has signed only three in-state high school recruits across his last three recruiting classes combined. 

Now recruiting isn’t the only criticism Colorado alums are pointing out under Deion Sanders.  Former Buffs fullback Lawrence Vickers appeared on the same podcast and openly questioned the culture.

“I mess with what Prime got going on,” he said. “I love it. I wouldn’t change it for nothing in the world. All I’m saying is, it’s a piece that’s missing. And the piece that’s missing is that open door policy for them to be able to touch, see, and understand what this s— meant to go here. And until you get there, it’s going to be a piece missing, bro.”

Those are some of the alumni feedback Deion Sanders enters Year 4 with. The celebrity factor built relevance but eventually, alumni relationships, high school pipelines, and local recruiting ties matter. And right now, some former Buffs clearly believe Colorado still hasn’t fully rebuilt that foundation beneath all the noise.