Coach Prime‘s flashy “Black and Gold” spring game fueled optimism for the CU Buffs. But things quickly turned sour. Since the transfer portal window opened, the team has faced a mass exodus of players. The numbers are quite huge as a whooping 61% of the 72 scholarship players signed in 2023 left the team and entered the transfer portal.

Some believe Deion Sanders deliberately cut players to make room for better recruits. Like many coaches, he’s not afraid to make tough roster decisions. And now this strategy has allowed the Buffaloes to sign promising new transfers. Thus, despite criticism from departing players and the messy exits, Coach Prime gets something to celebrate via the transfer portal. 

Coach Prime silences critics with impressive new recruits

After facing backlash for losing recruits like Cormani McClain, Deion Sanders is shifting his narrative to a more positive path. He recently took to Instagram to brag about 4 new commits joining the CU Buffs in just 2 days.  The post highlighted defensive lineman Rayyan Buell, offensive lineman Payton Kirkland, edge Daylon Hayes, and running back Dallan Hayden joining the Sanders team. While 4 new players just joined the Buffs, the team actually brought in a total of 32 new players overall. On the other hand, only 24 players left through the transfer portal.

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Now this is quite a bold response to critics who questioned Coach Prime’s recruiting and player retention abilities. It proves that his star power still attracts top talent, even amidst controversy surrounding his coaching style. Also, this wave of new recruits gives Deion Sanders a reason to brag and will likely fuel his drive to build a winning program. However, it looks like more than the messy exits, Deion has other things to worry about.

Can Deion Sanders turn the new recruits into victories?

The mass exodus of CU Buffs players has turned ugly, with departing players publicly criticizing Coach Prime. It started with Cormani McClain, who wanted a “real and great program,” criticizing Deion’s flashy approach as “click-based.” Former safety Xavier Smith joined the criticism, tearfully claiming Deion “never even tried to get to know me” and “destroyed” players’ confidence. Some thought these criticisms would scare off new recruits, but Coach Prime proved them wrong. He’s bringing in just as many players as he’s losing, proving that the criticism isn’t seriously affecting his ability to rebuild the roster.

However, last season too, he made a similar splash with new recruits, but a disappointing 4-8 record dulled the initial hype.  After a promising start, the team collapsed, and now another roster overhaul raises new doubts. The hype is now met with skepticism, adding even more pressure on Coach Prime to deliver results. Thus Deion Sanders needs to win more games to silence his critics. These transfer portal numbers are not the actual measure of success in the field.