Greg McElroy shares excitement for Deion Sanders at Colorado

There’s a lot of excitement — and has been for months — around Deion Sanders and the Colorado program. That’s not unexpected considering how Sanders generates buzz wherever he goes.

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy thinks some of that excitement will pay off on the field this season. On the Always College Football with Greg McElroy podcast, the former Alabama quarterback explained how Year 1 of the Buffaloes under “Coach Prime” is likely going to wind up as a successful one — even if the team misses out on a bowl game.

“I think Deion Sanders enters into a good situation,” McElroy said. “Now you’re gonna say how could you possibly say that? They went 1-11 last year. But the expectations are nothing for Colorado. Yes, we’re talking about him. But if Colorado goes 4-8 this year is anyone going to be shocked? If Colorado goes 7-5 this year, people are going to act like Deion Sanders is the greatest coach in history of the world. He is playing with house money, and it’s a terrific situation to be in.”

The Buffaloes have been in the doldrums as a program for a while now. They have made three bowl games since Gary Barnett‘s last season in 2005 — and one of those bowl games came in 2020 when the team played only five regular season games.

The program bottom out for the second time in a decade last season, finishing with a 1-11 record for the second time this century.

That low bar gives Sanders an easy benchmark to cross to make the 2023 season better than the previous one. With the talent he has added to the roster, that goal seems reachable.

It’s the potential to keep jumping higher and higher than would add even more excitement.

“He’s already improved the roster drastically,” McElroy said. “I watched the spring game, like you did, there are not a lot of Division I high level caliber football players on that field. There just weren’t. Just watch it. Just watch it. Look at the size of the guys. Look at the guys that are rushing the passer. That is not high level Division I football players. But that’s okay. It’s year number one. He’s got a runway. He’s got some time. If he improves to four wins from one win a year ago, that’s already a pretty significant improvement. If he could somehow get to a bowl game, people act as though Deion Sanders is the greatest thing since sliced bread. They probably should given where Colorado was the last couple of years.”