JD PicKell reveals Colorado's biggest concerns after roster turnover

As of Tuesday more than 50 Colorado football players had entered the NCAA transfer portal, marking a monumental shift in the roster first-year coach Deion Sanders will have to work with come the fall.

That’s all by design, of course.

Whatever you feel about the big number of Colorado players who have entered the transfer portal, there’s clearly a method behind the madness for Sanders.

“Someone else I talked to in the personnel world told me credit to Deion, kind of the same thing we were saying here, credit to Deion for wanting to flip the roster and saying, ‘I need to make some changes,'” On3’s JD PicKell said on the On3 YouTube channel. “But the concern here is you’re becoming a little bit thin at two position groups you don’t really want to be thin at.”

Questions like that, about the individual depth at a given position, will be the challenging aspect for Sanders to deal with as his Colorado roster turnover continues.

Sure, Colorado was 1-11 a year ago with one of the worst rosters in the Power 5. But upgrades aren’t necessarily guaranteed, and too much attrition at a few key spots could spell problems.

“The two positions they’re thin at right now are the secondary and the defensive line,” PicKell said. “You don’t want to be thin in the trenches. You don’t want to be thin in that position group on the back end that has to defend the playmakers, because what do we have in the Pac-12 Conference? A lot of teams that can throw the rock around.

“I know USC and UCLA, they’re leaving for the Big Ten here soon, but you’ve got to play Caleb Williams at some point in time. You look at Oregon, you look at Washington. There’s schools that just straight up throw the rock. You’re going to have to be able to defend that.”

The team that Colorado fielded in the spring game on Saturday didn’t necessarily look like a team ready to challenge for supremacy — or perhaps even mediocrity — any time soon. But there will be time still for Sanders to add pieces as Colorado’s roster turnover continues.

The NCAA transfer portal window remains open for players to enter until April 30.

Sanders and his Colorado staff will undoubtedly be mining the portal. In the meantime, Sanders can enjoy some approval courtesy of PicKell. The On3 host is a fan of the rapid roster turnover approach.

“What I would say for coach Prime, while this is not ideal, I have to at least respect the fact that he’s doing it his way,” PicKell said. “Like Deion Sanders is making no apologies for being Deion Sanders. And to some degree you have to respect that, period.

“Because the beautiful thing about this is Deion Sanders will never, ever have to wonder, ‘Man, what if I had done it my way? What if I hadn’t worried so much about the external noise and just straight up stuck to my own plan?’ He won’t ever have to wonder about that and I think that’s phenomenal for coach Prime, I think that’s phenomenal for us as a college football public.”