Deion Sanders describes what he has established after breakout season at Colorado

Colorado blew its 5.5-win total expectations out of the water in 2024, finishing the season 9-4 overall and making a bowl game for the first time under head coach Deion Sanders.

Now that the Buffs have tasted a bit of success under Coach Prime’s guadance, a standard has been set for the Colorado football program. Sanders understands his team is expected to perform under the lights, and touched on that fact after the 36-14 loss vs. BYU in the Alamo Bowl.

“We’ve established expectation, so now you expect us to perform a certain way,” Sanders said postgame. “You expect us to win. You expect us to be exciting. You expect us to be a lot more disciplined than we displayed today. You just have expectations of us now. That’s what we’ve established.”

Despite the outcome, Sanders’ squad is now expected to go out and contend for the Big 12 on a yearly basis. After coaching the Heisman Trophy-winner this season and arguably the No. 1 quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft, some believe continuing this success moving forward may be easier said than done.

Of course, Sanders isn’t afraid to dabble in the transfer portal, and has the No. 34 recruiting class in the country as of this report coming into the offseason. Sanders said he wants to have the right athletes playing in his program.

“We’re just trying to develop these young men, win games, make sure they’re consistent men in the community with their relationships, with their families, and then school,” the Buffs head coach continued. “Trust me, to get an education. We don’t think about it like that. We’re thankful we play a role in that, but that does not enter our mindset, not one bit.”

While Colorado fell short of its ultimate goal of making the College Football Playoff, Travis Hunter and his sons, Shedeur and Shilo, are off the the NFL. Forcing other players to step up, many are interested to see who will be Coach Prime’s next star.

Perhaps it will be consensus four-star true-freshman quarterback Julian Lewis, one of the 11 players Sanders had commit to his program during the winter NCAA transfer portal window, or someone who isn’t even on the roster yet.

If one thing is for sure, is that Coach Prime will need to figure it out before his Buffs take the field on Aug. 30 against Georgia Tech inside Folsom Field.