Deion Sanders has a habit of not making in-person visits to recruit players for the Colorado Buffaloes. Back in 2024, he reasoned that he couldn’t do what other coaches could because he’s Coach Prime. Of course, his unapologetic take on the recruitment strategy garnered quite a bit of criticism toward him. But according to T.J. Houshmandzadeh, that habit is simply hurting the collegiate team.
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“If you don’t have a school that could financially put you in a position to get players and be successful, you’re not winning,” Houshmandzadeh opined on PREGAME: A Speakeasy Show. “I tell you what, you ain’t getting the best kids. I know who Prime is. You know who he is. The parents know Prime. The kids ain’t never seen him play. The kid don’t care about that.
“If you wanna start to get these kids, you better start getting on these airplanes and going into these kids’ homes, because you’re not getting it. ‘Cause you’re not offering the most money. So, your personality has to win them over. He get in a room, he gonna win them over.”
Former Buffaloes player Matt McChesney had a similar take on Deion Sanders. On the Zero 2 Sixty Podcast, he claimed that things would get better for Colorado if Coach Prime gave recruiting the same attention that he gives to his children. Additionally, RJ Young and Shannon Sharpe also urged Sanders to do in-home visits and recruit players for Colorado. If he doesn’t do that, the rival coaches might gain an advantage over the Buffaloes.
Houshmandzadeh further noted that upon getting Shedeur Sanders as his quarterback, Coach Prime turned the season around for the Buffaloes. In the 2022 season, the Buffaloes finished 1-11. But in 2023, they went 4-8. And later in 2024, Shedeur took the team to a 9-4 finish. Unfortunately, the troubles returned after Shedeur graduated and moved to the NFL in the 2025 season. The Buffaloes finished the year with a 3-9 record. It continued in the 2026 season with a 2-5 record.
According to Houshmandzadeh, the Buffaloes’ success with Sanders in the quarterback position gave Colorado’s supporters a bit of hope. But things will get worse once Coach Prime decides to leave his position as the Buffaloes’ head coach.
“As soon as Prime leaves Colorado, nobody will talk about Colorado again,” the former Bengals star noted. “Because the way college football is today, they don’t, one, have the resources to compete with other schools. They don’t have the recruiting talent in the area to be able to bring in in-state kids. Like, the state of Colorado may have six to seven 4-5 star recruits a year. And they’re all not going to Colorado.
“What he’s brought to Colorado, it may not be wins, last or in this year. But he’s brought a lot of notoriety and a lot of money to them.”
It’s worth noting that Sanders actually has a contractual travel budget of $200,000. However, he hasn’t used a single penny of that amount to visit potential players and try to recruit them. He shared the reason behind it:
“There was an article that came out that said I don’t go on visits,” Coach Prime said at a news conference about spring football practice. “OK, my approach is totally different than many coaches’ approach. I’m a businessman as well, so I try to save our university money every darn chance I get.”
Other college football coaches have taken a different approach, making trips to recruits’ homes and schools instead of relying only on campus visits. Reports reviewed by USA TODAY Sports show that Jim Harbaugh made 145 off-campus contacts with recruits or their families from December 1, 2022, onward. Steve Sarkisian, on the other hand, made 128, while Chip Kelly made 55.
Sanders, meanwhile, has pointed to his fame as one reason he avoids these visits, suggesting that his presence could draw a crowd at a recruit’s home or school. Colorado’s recruiting strategy also plays a role, as the program has focused heavily on players entering the transfer portal rather than high school prospects. Since transfer players are often older and living away from their families, coaches may have less reason to visit their homes.
“We target mostly guys that’s in the portal,” Sanders added. “When do you make visits to portal guys’ homes? Anybody do that? Do they do that? Anybody? Have you guys heard of that?”
Nevertheless, with an untouched travel budget sitting on the table and rival programs outspending the Buffaloes in the NIL market, Sanders must finally leave Boulder and win prospects over in their living rooms before Colorado’s fleeting relevance fades completely. After all, the ‘Coach Prime’ name alone can no longer carry Colorado with no star players on the roster.