Everything you need to know about Deion Sanders, new head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes

It’s Prime Time in Boulder!

The Colorado Buffaloes have hired Deion Sanders to be their 28th head football coach.

Sanders leaves Jackson State University after leading the Tigers to their second straight SWAC conference title. The Tigers beat the Southern Jaguars on Saturday, 43-24.

For weeks, rumors have been circulating that CU leadership has been making changes to current restrictions that limit the quality and quantity of transfers Colorado can accept.

Here is everything you need to know about Prime coming to Boulder.

• He became the 21st head coach of the Jackson State Tigers in 2020. In his first season, he led the Tigers to a 4-3 record in what was an abbreviated and delayed season due to COVID-19.

• Jackson State went 12-0 in 2022 and 11-2 in 2021 winning every in-conference game the last two seasons. In both seasons Sanders earned SWAC Coach of the Year honors.

• Sanders inherits a Colorado football team that went 1-11 in 2022 but the trajectory of Colorado’s football program skyrocketed the moment Sanders was hired. 

• Since November 2021, Colorado has had 25 players enter the transfer portal. In that time Colorado has only accepted 12 transfers into their program. Now, CU is a destination program for talented players from around the country.

• Sanders successfully recruited high-profile recruits Travis Hunter and Kevin Coleman to Jackson State last year.

• Hunter is a WR/DB who plays both ways for the Tigers. He was the number one overall recruit in the 2022 recruiting class according to 247sports.com and Rivals.com. In 2022, Hunter led the Tigers with seven passes defensed and two interceptions. On offense, he charted 13 receptions for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

• Coleman was the top-ranked recruit out of Missouri in 2022 and the sixth overall wide receiver recruit in last year’s class according to 247sports.com.

• Sanders’ son, Shedeur Sanders, was a four-star recruit in 2021 that had 26 schools offer him scholarships including Michigan, Alabama, Georgia and UCLA. He committed to Jackson State in 2021 and has been the team’s starting quarterback ever since. In 2022, Sanders completed 70.3% of his passes for 3,063 yards and 32 touchdowns with only six interceptions.

• All three players could be in play to join Colorado’s roster this off-season. The transfer portal opens for non-graduate transfers on Monday, December 5th.

• Blake Purchase is a four-star linebacker recruit currently committed to Oregon. He is from Englewood, CO and went to Cherry Creek High School. Last week, Purchase told Sean Keeler of the Denver Post that he would consider flipping his commitment to Colorado if Sanders was hired as head coach.

• Brandon Inniss, a five-star wide receiver recruit currently committed to Ohio State, has hinted that he may be willing to flip his commitment to CU.

• On Monday, Sanders confirmed Colorado has offered him their head coaching position. On Friday afternoon, Denver’s FOX31 reported that CU has offered Sanders a deal worth at least $5 million per year.

• On Friday night, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that Sanders has been reaching out to “prominent” players in the transfer portal and current CU commits telling them that he was heading to Colorado. Thamel also reported that Sanders spent last week building his on-field staff and support staff to bring to Boulder.

• As it currently stands, Colorado has the 41st-ranked recruiting class for 2023 according to 247sports.com. Expect that to change for the better.

• Sanders is a Super Bowl Champion, College Football Hall of Famer and Pro Football Hall of Famer but he earned his stripes as a coach and has steadily climbed the ranks over the last 11 years. His coaching career began as a high school head coach in 2012 at the Prime Prep Academy where he coached for two seasons. After a year out of coaching, Sanders was hired to be the head coach at Triple A Academy before he left for Trinity Christian School (TX) to become their offensive coordinator in 2017. Jackson State was Sanders’ first college coaching job and now he is a power five head coach.

With this hire, the University of Colorado has stepped up to the plate and taken a major swing at getting the football program turned around to compete at a national level.

Since 2000, Colorado football has had five winning seasons with only one in the last ten years. In that time, Colorado has had ten head coaches including interims.

Sanders’ first game as head coach will be on September 2nd when the Buffs travel to Fort Worth, TX to take on TCU.

His first game at Folsom Field will be on September 9th against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The week after that, Colorado State comes to Boulder to take on the Buffs.

Buckle up, Buff Nation.