After an important cast member of the Prime Saga: The Colorado Years exited stage left over the weekend, two more have left on Tuesday.
Starting running back Dylan Edwards and reserve Sy'Veon Wilkerson both hit the Transfer Portal on Tuesday.
Edwards was the first "new" start of the Prime Saga at Colorado. While viewers already knew Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, and met Cormani McClain during the winter of 2023, Edwards was the surprise star of Colorado's first game. He turned 11 touches into 159 yards and four touchdowns in CU's stunning 45-42 season-opening upset of reigning national runner-up TCU on the first Saturday of the 2023 season.
That would prove to be the peak of Edwards's time in Buffs black and gold. He would go on to catch 36 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns, and led CU's putrid rushing offense with 321 yards on 76 carries and just one touchdown.
Edwards was the second-highest rated recruit in Deion's debut high school class of 2023, trailing only McClain.
Wilkerson ranked third on the team with in carries (53) and rushing yards (190) in 2023, and led the team with three rushing touchdowns.
Edwards and Wilkerson's moves means Colorado will lose all four players who carried the ball more than two times last season. Anthony Hankerson, CU's second-leading rusher in 2023, committed to Oregon State in December, and Alton McCaskill, the 2021 AAC Rookie of the Year who totaled only 14 rushes with Colorado, left the team last week. McCaskill missed 2022 with a torn ACL, but his father claimed in a since-deleted post that he was healthy enough to carry the ball more than 14 times last season.
Needless to say, short of any as unreported disciplinary issues, losing Edwards is a major, major red flag for Deion Sanders and Colorado.
First of all, Colorado presently has zero returning depth in the running back room. As of this writing, Colorado lists only three running backs on its online roster with Edwards gone. The Buffaloes did land the commitment of Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden, but: A) Hayden was the Buckeyes' fourth-string running back in 2023, and B) even if he proves talented beyond the 19 carries he registered last season, it takes more than one running back to make an effective RB room. Colorado is reportedly trying to flip Miami (Ohio) transfer Rashad Amos from Mississippi State, but time will tell if that happens.
According to the 247Sports transfer portal database, Colorado has secured 29 transfers in the 2023-24 cycle, but lost 35 as of this writing. Every team is going to lose transfers, but a program in Colorado's place can't make 1-for-1 swaps and build the depth necessary to win in the Big 12.
Beyond the very real depth concerns in the running back room and the roster as a whole, there is a larger, overarching concern with Edwards's exit.
Running players off from a 1-11 team is a necessary evil in flipping a stagnant program, but McClain and Edwards's departures are a different category altogether. Cormani McClain and Dylan Edwards were supposed to be part of the solution.
Sanders recruited them both to Colorado, so he can't -- or, at least, shouldn't be allowed to -- write them off as bad culture fits. Edwards in particular, considering Sanders coached him as a youth player back in Texas. Deion brought them both to Boulder, and either Sanders decided that they weren't going to contribute moving forward or, worse, McClain and Edwards decided that they needed to get out in order to blossom as players.
Either way, it's a terrible sign for Coach Prime and Colorado.