Shilo Sanders defends post reaching out to transfer portal players

Under head coach Deion Sanders, the Colorado Buffaloes have been unique in their approach to roster building. This Spring, that included a post that defensive back and Deion’s son Shilo Sanders made during the Spring.

The post that Shilo Sanders made called for players in the Transfer Portal to reach out to either him or quarterback Shedeur Sanders about transferring into the program. In the post, he also wrote, “This not Last Chance U,” referencing the Netflix show about JUCO football.

It’s a post that Sanders has since defended, explaining that he wants to play on the best team possible to help his draft stock.

“I don’t know,” Shilo Sanders said. “The day I posted is the first day the portal opened. Me, as a player, you know gotta how I think. The more games we win, the easier it is to get looks and to get drafted, and I want the best opportunity to win, which ends up [with] getting drafted earlier. So, I’m going to do all I can to beef up the team.”

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“We’ve got a good team right now. I just want to make it easier for other guys to really just feel like, ‘Alright. If I want to go to Colorado, it’s not hard.’ Because my dad said he ain’t hard to find. We ain’t hard to find either.”

Shilo Sanders also pointed out that he’s not alone in doing this. Shedeur Sanders has also been active in working to get guys to reach out about Colorado.

“Now, Shedeur is really the pro at that, though. He’s been, if y’all look at his Twitter, he’s been doing that. So, I kind of stole it from him, but I just want to make it easier for guys to come find a new home at Colorado, really.”

Over the past two seasons, Colorado has been very active in the Transfer Portal. That has become a divisive way of building a team.

In the 2024 transfer cycle, Colorado currently has the first-ranked transfer class, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That class has seen 44 players transfer out and 37 transfer in. It also comes a year after 55 players transferred out and 50 transferred into Colorado during the 2023 transfer cycle.

Deion Sanders on criticism of Colorado using players to recruit transfer portal

Deion Sanders himself also recently pushed back on the criticism that the Colorado program has received over Shilo Sanders posting to help recruit from the Transfer Portal.

“They don’t know how this stuff works. We don’t talk behind closed doors … Let’s get this straight, when real players want to jump, they can’t talk to personnel, right? So who do you talk to? [The players]. How stupid are you to think that they don’t talk to one another? That’s when you know who’s who and what’s what,” Sanders said.

“That’s where it comes from first. Like if I know who’s going to jump into the portal from our team, what are my players are gonna tell me? Not a coach from somewhere else because it’s illegal? Correct? For the coach to be having these conversations, although they happen … But when Shilo says this, he’s not lying… It’s how it goes down and he’s just making a joke out of it really. That’s hilarious, but that’s really how it goes. Now, go look at Shedeur’s DMs, you’re like oh my god. Every wide receiver, tight end and offensive lineman in the country.”