Deion Sanders previews his 2023 Colorado roster

Deion Sanders has a completely new roster to work with during his first season in Colorado, but that’s by design. The Buffaloes saw an astounding 58 players enter the transfer portal this offseason, but brought in 48 as Sanders reloads ahead of 2023.

With so much turnover, there have been questions about how well Colorado can perform in Sanders’ inaugural season. However, the coach pushed back against that in a recent interview with FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt.

“Smart, tough, fast, disciplined with character,” Sanders said of his new roster. “We gon’ go get that ball, man. People made a big stink out of who we let go, but not a big stink out of who we brought in. You gotta really start eyeballing who we brought in and what they bring to the table. Now there’s competition in practice. Forget offense vs. defense. I’m talking about vs. the rush ends. The inside guys. The linebackers. You’ve gotta compete to even get on the darn field.”

Colorado’s transfer class ranks No. 3 in the country according to On3’s Transfer Portal Team Rankings. Among those players is Travis Hunter, a former five-star player who played both cornerback and receiver for Sanders at Jackson State in 2022.

The Buffaloes also added a pair of former Florida State players in the secondary: safety Travis Jay and cornerback Omarion Cooper. That has Sanders, a former FSU cornerback himself, raving about the potential of the group.

“The secondary, everybody is 6-foot and above at the cornerbacks position,” he said. “Long arms, can jump out the gym, very athletic and can house that thing if they get it. Safeties, very physical, versatile, can cover the slot, but they’re bangers. Not only that, they can cover the ball. They’re getters. They gon’ get the ball.”

Deion Sanders also brings his two sons, Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders, with him from Jackson State to Colorado. Shedeur will be the starting quarterback for the Buffaloes, and his dad emphasized how big of a role he will play in determining the team’s success.

“It’s only two guys in this whole organization that gets the record, and their last names is Sanders,” he said. “So we’ve gotta make sure we take care of them and get them the ball. When we do that, he’s gonna make the necessary read and proper throws because he’s very accurate. He’s always been his whole darn life. We gon’ get some things done because we have those little intangibles that’s gonna make it work.”

Colorado finished 1-11 this past season and has not won more than five games since 2016, so it’s clear Sanders has his work cut out for him to turn things around. But not only does the players he brought in give him confidence he can, but he’s also excited about the coaching staff.

“It’s very rare that you have really good talent and I really good coaching staff and you don’t win,” he said. “I haven’t seen no one disagree about the level of the coaching staff. So why would you find fault in the way we’re going about the thing and the kids but you said nothing about me assembling the coaching staff? So I’m good at that but not good at that? Assembling the coaching staff is harder than the kids. There’s no way we’re gonna have this and not that.”

The Buffaloes will kick off the Deion Sanders era on Sept. 2 against last year’s national runner-up TCU.