Colorado AD Rick George: Deion Sanders 'and I are on the same page' about program's future

Rick George is confident in the future of Colorado football under Deion Sanders and said he hopes the coach finishes his career in Boulder.

At 4-1, Colorado has a little more juice than 2023. Now with a game against a top 20 Kansas State team, the Buffaloes can put themselves into Big 12 contention this weekend.

But what happens after Year 2? George said he’s on the same page as Sanders moving forward when the team could look drastically different in 2025.

“Well, look, we hope that Coach Prime finishes his career here,” George said Tuesday. “I think he can do significant things for us long term with longevity and so, you know for us, and I think coach would sit here and tell you that he and I are on the same page about where we want this program to go. 

“It’s not a short term fix, and we want to set it up to be sustainable for the future. And I think what he’s done has been incredible. I like the culture that he’s created, I see it on a daily basis with his student athletes and his coaches, and like I said, I like where we’re at. We’ve got a lot to do still moving forward and we’re on the same page on that.”

After a 4-8 campaign last year, Colorado got off to another good start, with the lone blemish coming against Nebraska in Lincoln.

It didn’t look good, but Sanders and company ripped off Big 12 wins against Baylor and UCF, including a blowout in the latter.

Fresh off a bye week, Colorado hosts the Wildcats in what could be must-see-TV for college football fans in Week 7.

The offense ran through Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter and the latter is the biggest impact player on defense. But now that Colorado seemingly found a running game against UCF, Deion Sanders made sure to remind people that Colorado’s rising.

“Now we’re two-dimensional,” Sanders said. “We can run the ball as well as throw the ball, and that’s a threat. Still, we can’t turn the ball over and we can’t give up explosions. We knew first down, shot down. We said that on the sideline and they still came up big.”

Sanders came over to Colorado after leading Jackson State to success, taking his sons Shedeur and Shilo with him, as well as Hunter.

The big talking point is Sanders won’t have much more to give once the three are off the roster and headed for NFL pastures.

But as George said Tuesday, there seems to be a long term vision based on their conversations.