Deion Sanders on direction of Colorado program: 'I like where we're headed'

With the Dallas Cowboys slipping three games below .500, head coach Mike McCarthy’s seat is scorching hot, and national conversations about his potential replacement are becoming louder and more frequent.

The name that keeps coming up is Deion Sanders, the former Cowboys star and Pro Football Hall of Famer who has climbed the coaching ranks and now has Colorado in the College Football Playoff discussion.

Sanders’ Buffaloes are 7-2, including 5-1 in Big 12 play, and No. 17 in the newest CFP rankings.

Except, when he met with the Boulder media Tuesday, Sanders emphasized the plans he has to handle roster turnover at Colorado, not only next season but also the season after that.

“I like where we headed,” Sanders said Tuesday. “I like where we’re trending. I really enjoy the thought process of us getting better and better. It’s not like we’re digressing in some areas. I think we’re getting better and better as time goes on.

“We have several defensive linemen that are moving on. We have, I think, three receivers that are moving on, four including Travis [Hunter], but we’ve made the necessary projections and thought processes of the recruits that we’re bringing in, and we know what we’re going to get out of the portal — maybe not the persons, but we know at this position we’re going to go grab a couple mature young men out of the portal.”

Sanders added: “And we’ve already have this thing mapped out. I mean, not only for this year but for the year thereafter. So we’re kind of thinking ahead on these things.”

Colorado currently has the 65th-ranked recruiting class in the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. The Buffaloes have 10 commits so far, including a quartet of four-star prospects. Of those four highly-touted high school pledges, two are wideouts: Adrian Wilson from Weiss High School in Pflugerville, Texas, and Quanell Farrakhan Jr. from North Shore High School in Spring, Texas.

But Colorado has done its heavy lifting in the transfer portal the last two offseasons. If Sanders remains head coach, the Buffaloes will surely tap back into that talent pool, as he mentioned Tuesday.

Colorado added a record 53 transfers ahead of Sanders’ first season with the program. Most notably, Sanders brought over his sons, quarterback Shedeur Sanders and safety Shilo Sanders, as well as Hunter, a two-way phenom, from FCS Jackson State, where Sanders coached for three years (2020-22).

The Buffs stormed out to a 3-0 start last season before losing eight of their last nine games, all in Pac-12 play. But they moved to the Big 12 this offseason, took another swing at the portal, and now find themselves right in the middle of the CFP discussion.

Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are destined to be high draft picks. And an NFL head coaching job could be in the cards for Deion Sanders, but, for now, he’s focused on the present and future at Colorado.