Matt Rhule calls revival of Colorado rivalry 'great' for college football

Colorado has something cooking with Deion Sanders and he has yet to coach a game for the Buffaloes. New Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule knew the rivalry between the two teams is bound to be reignited, particularly as both schools recruit the same areas despite being in different conferences.

Both new coaches have to focus on rebuilding jobs after both schools made in-season coaching changes. But, a Nebraska-Colorado rivalry would be great for college football according to Rhule.

“First of all congratulations to Deion Sanders, he’s iconic, matter of fact we had a recruiting weekend this past weekend and they had the video games up and there’s Prime with his hands out as a player,” Rhule told 247Sports. “And I’m like can we get the other teams and coaches off the screen. So he’ll do a great job at Colorado and you’re right, it is fun. 

“As we were preparing for this job my wife and kids and I watching those great games in the 80s and 90s and coach McCartney, and obviously coach Osborne, and coach Solich, and many others. I think it’s great for college football, we want to be great in the Big Ten and I’m sure they’ll do a great job of that in the Pac-12.”

Currently, Colorado has the No. 38 overall recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, landing three four-star prospects. For comparison, Nebraska is No. 33 overall.

Sanders, in addition to pulling in other recruits, attacking the transfer portal and going for gold right away, brought over his son Shedeur Sanders, who’s expected to be the quarterback at Colorado next week, and former top recruit Travis Hunter.

Both men starred at Jackson State under Sanders in a historic run for the university over the last three seasons. 

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What Sanders lacks in head coaching experience at a high level, he matches with recruiting chops. And for CU to ever be relevant again on the national scale it once was, this move is exactly the one they had to make.

“He knows how to recruit, he relates very well to kids and many parents grew up watching Deion,” On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons said. “We know he is going to sign talent. Now a lot of eyes will be in him and his staff as coaches on the Power 5 level. This is a great move for college football and it creates new excitement at Colorado.”

Kaiden Smith contributed to this report