Deion Sanders shoots down concerns about Colorado's depth in 2023

Deion Sanders and Colorado have generated plenty of conversation about the roster turnover as “Coach Prime” took over. The Buffaloes saw 57 players enter the transfer portal and 49 come in, not to mention a couple highly rated high school recruits making their way to Boulder.

That has led to concerns about depth, though. As training camp gets underway, Sanders made it clear he’s not worried.

“You’re talking about scholarship spots,” Sanders said. “How many people we got on the roster right now? 115. You think we’re needing more people? You can only, what, you can only travel with … 72. So that means there’s an extra 35 or whatever it is. … But yeah, shoot, we don’t need that.”

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When Sanders left Jackson State, he infamously said he was bringing his “luggage” with him — Louis, to be exact. He also indicated he didn’t want to go through a long rebuild process.

He wants Colorado to compete right away, and that’s why he doesn’t want scholarship spots to just sit empty.

“Why would we save those?” Sanders asked. “Because we’re about to win, we’re about to really win and we’re going to need more recruits next year. Think about that. Forward-thinking. We can only put 11 on the field at a time. Think about that. Everything you come up with, we’ve thought out, man.

“I’m not new to this, man. I’m true to this. I’ve been doing this for a minute. I know you think I haven’t been at this level for a minute, but I’ve been in football for — how many years? A long time. Alright. I know what I’m doing.”

Sanders landed plenty of impressive transfers as Colorado landed the No. 2-ranked group in the country, according to the On3 College Football team Transfer Portal Rankings. That group is headlined by multiple former Jackson State players who followed Sanders to CU, including Travis Hunter. The two-way sensation and former Five Star Plus+ recruit was the top transfer to hit the portal during the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings.

Colorado was picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12 preseason poll this year as the conference does away with divisions. The Buffaloes won just one game in 2022 under Karl Dorrell and Mike Sanford Jr., but will start the “Coach Prime” era in a big way Sept. 2. They’ll square up against a TCU team fresh off a national championship appearance.