There was a time when Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes created headlines in college football. They still do today, but for the wrong reasons, after an extremely poor showing in 2025. Former ESPN personality and sports commentator Jason Whitlock delivered his assessment of Sanders’ failure.
“The Prime Effect is wearing off on television networks,” he said on his show. “I don’t see them winning more than three or four games this year. I think the Coach Prime deal is coming to a predictable end. Two female strength coaches were captured on tape, trying to inspire the Colorado football team. … He’s doing woke politics from inside his locker room, putting out videos, trying to score points with the feminists. Coach Prime is done.
“Now that Shedeur has gone, all the shine has come off of Deion. All the real passion for Colorado has come off of Deion. He likes the paycheck, he likes being able to be in Aflac commercials and being presented as if he’s right there with Nick Saban. Deion loves that stuff. This is the final year of Coach Prime. Deion and Shedeur are both in trouble this year.”
In an Instagram reel, Whitlock wrote in the caption: “He just wants to please the feminists.”
Shedeur Sanders’ leap to the NFL altered the landscape in Boulder. He served as the centerpiece of his father’s system for two seasons at Colorado. With Sanders and dynamic WR/CB Travis Hunter in play, Colorado went from 4-8 in 2023 to 9-4 in 2024. Sanders led in passing yards that year with 4,134. But with his best players now gone, Deion Sanders and Co. finished 3-9 in 2025.
To make things worse, their television rating also dropped by 67%. An average of 6.1 million people tuned in to watch Colorado’s games on television in 2023. But in 2025, that number dropped to only a couple of million. On an even more troubling note, players filed out of the Colorado program for greener pastures. 36 players entered the transfer portal this year.
Colorado slipped back into irrelevance, which was never the aim behind the program hiring Deion Sanders to be its head coach.
Despite the sliding numbers, the university remains financially tied to the head coach. He signed a five-year, $54 million extension in 2025, before everything went down. The contract ties him to the team till 2029. How Sanders launches the Buffs back into prominence will be a test of time, which will soon begin.
Meanwhile, Shedeur Sanders is struggling for the QB1 spot on the Cleveland Browns roster. It looks like veteran QB Deshaun Watson has pulled away in the QB1 race, getting more reps recently in practice. Sanders might have to warm the bench this season as his backup, at least during the beginning of the season. He will start for the Browns against the Bills this Friday.
Whitlock’s criticism reflects a growing sentiment across college football. The novelty of Coach Prime has officially expired. But if he wants to silence these voices, he’ll have to deliver more than just a handful of wins in the upcoming season.