Deion Sanders won't use '85 scholarships' at Colorado, suggests different method

Deion Sanders is already a unique roster builder entering his second year as head coach of Colorado.

While he’s had some nice recruiting wins, most of his work has been done in the transfer portal to overhaul a roster that won one game in 2022 and just four games in 2023 in Year 1. In fact, Sanders believes 85 scholarships is too many.

He would personally want to decrease the amount of scholarships and add more walk-ons.

“I would like 75 scholarships, 25 walk-ons or just give me money and let me work,” Sanders said on Sirius XM. “I’m cool with 100 as long as I could have some type of scout team with some type of way to develop then young men that most likely can show you that they’re not ready right now, but they may be a dog next year. I got to have a developmental process on the scout team. 

That’s where Sanders outwardly said he wouldn’t even use all of the scholarships at his disposal.

“I may not use 85, I have 85 scholarships, I’ll never use them,” Sanders said. “There ain’t 85 dogs right there that I want. So I may save eight to 10 and guess what happens? You mess around and win and you attract more. I got an extra 10 that I ain’t even used last year. I can (use them) this year. Always for a rainy day … Don’t force it. You gonna force 85 kids? You forcing it.”

Deion Sanders has different take on scholarship usage

Even if he doesn’t use all of the scholarships, he still has to use them wisely. Sanders made sure to improve the trenches after a rough 2023

Colorado was statistically among the worst offensive lines in the country in 2023. The Buffaloes were 132nd out of 133 teams in terms of sacks allowed after giving up 4.67 sacks per game. The Buffaloes were also 133rd in rushing offense, with 68.92 yards per game on the ground.

The defensive line wasn’t much better. The Buffaloes were 63rd in sacks last season, with 2.25 sacks per game, and 96th in tackles for a loss with 5.42 per game. More problematic than that was the fact that Colorado struggled mightily against the run, finishing 110th in rushing defense after giving up 176.42 yards per game.

“We addressed both lines defensively and offensively,” Sanders said. “We need to get out after the passer. We need to be to run the football, as well as stop the run. The skill positions, we’re tremendously blessed at that. The receivers, the defensive backs, the linebackers, running backs. We got some top-tier guys.”

Following the season, Deion Sanders and Colorado turned to the Transfer Portal to help fix both lines of scrimmage, bringing in 41 total transfers. That included plenty of offensive and defensive linemen, like Zechariah Owens and Dayon Hayes.