Joel Klatt claims Colorado's hiring of Deion Sanders 'is working' for the program

The Colorado football program has yet to take the field in a sanctioned game under new head coach Deion Sanders, yet Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt claims the hire of Coach Prime is already paying off for the Buffaloes.

On his very own Joel Klatt Show, he expressed that the Colorado program is in a better spot, from a P/R and branding standpoint, than they’ve ever been. Not only is Sanders making a splash because of his own name and fame, but because he’s going for people’s throats on the recruiting trail. There are wildly talented athletes already at Boulder and being recruited hard by the Buffs.

The jury is still out on whether the Sanders experiment yields winning, but it no doubt brings excitement. Here’s Klatt on why that alone is huge for the program:

Joel Klatt on the Coach Prime effect

“In part you have to realize that this was kind of the point with hiring Deion Sanders at Colorado. He comes into Boulder to do a lot of things, but one of them is to make the program relevant. You’re seeing Colorado show up on recruiting lists that we haven’t seen Colorado show up on in a long time. Five-star, four-star players that Colorado is on the final list of five, the official visits list — it’s better than it ever has been at the University of Colorado.

“So in a large respect, this is working. It’s working. We saw what happened at the spring game. It wasn’t just about the attendance at the spring game, although that was impressive. It was also about the fact that ESPN came out and said that was the most watched spring game they’ve had since…I believe I want to say 2016. Well, over half a million viewers.

“People are interested in Deion Sanders, in Coach Prime, what he’s doing at Colorado, which makes Colorado relevant. And when you hear some of the numbers that I’m about to go through, that, in and of itself, is somewhat of a miracle. It’s somewhat of a miracle.

“So again, let me backtrack for a moment. If someone wants to paint Colorado and Deion Sanders in the negative light, it’s going to be that times 10 because of the Prime effect. If someone wants to paint him in a positive light, it’s going to be that times 10 because of the Prime effect. So that’s what we’re living through right now.”