Deion Sanders reportedly wants Colorado roster to be 80 percent transfers
David Ubben of The Athletic has a great story on Colorado's months-long courtship of Deion Sanders, which began with CU's Oct. 2 firing of Karl Dorrell and concluded almost two months to the day later, with CU announcing Coach Prime as its 28th head coach on Dec. 3.
Within that pursuit, Sanders explained his philosophy to roster building at Colorado, which was identical to how he built Jackson State:
Sanders, however, recruited his roster to Jackson State without the backing of a deep-pocketed collective, and with George sitting in his home, Sanders laid out his vision that was similar to what he’d done in Jackson. Sanders refers to it as his 40-40-20 model.
That’s a roster made up of 40 percent graduate transfers, 40 percent undergraduate transfers and 20 percent high school signees.
On an 85-man roster, that would mean 34 graduate transfers, 34 undergraduate transfers, and 17 high school signees.
Sanders' actions, though, indicate the numbers will actually be closer to a 50-50 split between transfers of all kinds and high school recruits.
Colorado announced 24 newcomers in the December signing period: 14 high school recruits, two junior college signees, and eight transfers. The 247Sports database lists Colorado with 41 new acquisitions -- 16 directly from high school. The Buffaloes are also in hot pursuit of 5-star cornerback Cormani McClain, an unsigned Miami commit.
If the Buffs land McClain, the 40-40-20 model would leave no more room for high school recruits unless and until one of a 2023 high school signee leaves Boulder. But Colorado already has three high school pledges for its 2024 class and one for 2025, with more certainly on the way.
So while the 40-40-20 model may look good on a PowerPoint deck, Sanders's actions indicate he will allocate more than 20 percent of his scholarships toward high school recruits. Which, to be clear, places him in line with just about every other FBS head coach.
247Sports lists Colorado's transfer class (23 players as of this writing) at No. 3 in FBS, and its overall 41-man haul of signees and transfers at No. 24. For what it's worth, Colorado ranked No. 58 in 2022, while Jackson State was far-and-away the No. 1 FCS team in the rankings.
What's clear is that Coach Prime will make no apologies about pursuing the best players available, through any avenues available. "I'm bringing my luggage," he memorably told Colorado's returning players in his first team meeting back in early December, "and it's Louis."
