© 2026 ALLCITY Network Inc.
All rights reserved.
It’s a big year for Deion Sanders and the Colorado football team.
Not much went right for the Buffs during their 3-9 campaign in 2025. Colorado had the second-worst scoring offense (20.9 points per game) and the fourth-worst scoring defense (30.5 points per game) in the Big 12.
The disappointing season has Coach Prime “feeling the pressure,” according to wide receivers coach Jason Phillips.
“He’s feeling the pressure from everybody and, I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this, the fifth 5th floor (athletics administration),” Phillips said of Deion Sanders on Tuesday. “So I just think the expectation level has just gone up a notch.”
As a result, the Buffs will look much different in 2026 from both a player and coach perspective. Coach Prime has two new coordinators who he believes are head-coach caliber and 60-plus new players.
It remains to be seen if the roster overhaul will work, but it has to. Here are five reasons why it should.
Don't like ads?
Colorado football’s best coaching staff of Prime era?
Deion Sanders had a clear shift in his coaching philosophy this offseason.
His previous two coordinators had extensive NFL backgrounds and not much experience coaching at the college level. Colorado football’s new coordinators have a combined 23 years of college coaching experience.
After the Buffs averaged just 20.9 points per game last season, Coach Prime hired one of the most innovative offensive minds in the sport: Brennan Marion. Over the last three seasons, Marion’s Go-Go offense has averaged 34.8 points per game. That’s particularly important for the Colorado football team which is 10-0 when scoring 30+ points dating back to 2024.
“Everybody we interviewed averaged over 30 points per game,” Deion Sanders said earlier this month. “30 points per game is our threshold. When we score 30 points, we win. When we don’t, we lose.”
Deion Sanders said Marion has been “much more than expected” and new defensive coordinator Chris Marve “is fully overqualified for this position.” The former Virginia Tech DC (2022-24) had the ACC’s No. 1 red zone defense and No. 3 scoring defense (22.8 points allowed per game) in 2024.
Marve will be partially assisted by nine-year NFL veteran Vonn Bell (safeties coach) and Clancy Pendergast (senior analyst), who has 30-plus years of coaching experience at the college and pro level.
Don't like ads?
“I really feel as though we have the best staff that has been assembled in my tenure by far,” Deion Sanders said earlier this month.
Returning production
This offseason, the Colorado football team added transfers who combined for 182 starts in 2025. That’s the third-most of any team.
There was a clear emphasis on experience and production in the portal this time around after a handful of evaluation whiffs last year. The Buffs’ recruiting staff targeted proven players (even if they came from the G5, FCS ranks) over transfers from Power 4 schools with little to no film.
The WR room has been heavily upgraded thanks to the additions of Danny Scudero (San Jose State), Kam Perry (Miami-Ohio), DeAndre Moore Jr. (Texas) and Ernest Campbell (Sac State). That group combined for 3,554 yards and 28 TDs on 206 catches last season.
Defensively, the Colorado football team added a trio of experienced and productive linebackers. Liona Lefau (Texas), Gideon ESPN Lampron (Bowling Green) and Tyler Martinez (New Mexico State) combined for 215 tackles to go along with 21.5 TFLs in 2025.
The Buffs’ secondary should be much improved, too. Randon Fontenette (Vanderbilt) and Naeten Mitchell (New Mexico State) have impressed during spring ball and have the talent to be an elite safety duo. They combined to total 145 tackles (80 solo), 12 PBUs and five forced fumbles last season.
Don't like ads?
A strong transfer portal haul fueled the Colorado football team’s success in 2024. History could repeat itself this fall.
Turnover and injury luck
Turnovers can win or lose a game. Just ask Colorado football fans.
The Buffs were minus-2 in turnover margin last season which ranked 10th in the Big 12. That made them the 116th-ranked team (out of 136) in turnover luck, according to ESPN. Colorado struggled to create/force turnovers (just 15 all season) and had far too many giveaways (17) for a team that struggled to consistently find the end zone.
As bad as the Buffs’ turnover luck was, their injury luck was even worse.
The Colorado football team ranked 129th (tied with UAB) in lineup consistency last season due to being decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball. The bottom 16 teams in lineup consistency had a combined win percentage of 0.297. Not a coincidence.
If the Buffs can reverse some of their turnover and injury luck, a bounce back could be on the horizon.
Don't like ads?
Julian Lewis
The Colorado football team got bad quarterback play last season. There’s no sugar-coating that.
Kaidon Salter was benched twice for his inconsistencies and his seven INTs contributed to the Buffs’ bad turnover luck. Luckily for Colorado football fans, Julian Lewis rarely puts the ball in harm’s way.
On 96 pass attempts as a true freshman, Lewis had zero INTs and just two turnover-worthy plays. The former five-star recruit also showed an ability to thrive under pressure.
In his first career start, Lewis was blitzed by West Virginia on 43% of his dropbacks and he completed 73% of his passes (11/15) for 192 yards and a TD with zero turnovers. He also had three big-time throws when blitzed, according to Pro Football Focus.
Now with another offseason under his belt and an innovative offensive coordinator, Lewis could be viewed as one of the top QBs in college football by season’s end.
“Coach Marion brought in this Go-Go system and it’s been crazy to start to learn and try to read the defense with all the progression and things like that,” Julian Lewis told the media. “But I mean, honestly, it looks like we’re gonna do our thing. Coach Marion is a great guy, great leader.
Don't like ads?
“It’s always better coming from somebody with real football experience. Knowing Coach Marion was a receiver, just hearing his point of view coming from the receiver side, it doesn’t get any better than that. Knowing what he’s done with quarterbacks, you can’t really talk back to anything he says. You just gotta listen and try to soak up as much up as you can.”
A motivated Coach Prime
Redshirt junior RJ Johnson said Wednesday that Deion Sanders is a lot more hands on with the cornerbacks this year.
It could be because Coach Prime is feeling the pressure, but it also could be because he’s in a much better physical condition. It was around this time last year that he began having health complications.
Deion Sanders was battling bladder cancer last April and wasn’t involved in evaluating many of the incoming spring transfers ahead of the 2025 season. This time around, Coach Prime says he’s “hand-picked, hand-selected” each of his new players.
If the Colorado football team has more hits than misses out of the portal and has its head coach at 100% health, the Buffs could be a Big 12 sleeper.
Follow Colorado Buffaloes beat reporter Scott Procter on X.
Comments
Share your thoughts
Join the conversation
The Comment section is only for diehard members
Scroll to next article
Don't like ads?
Don't like ads?
