Deion Sanders provides some data behind Colorado's highly scrutinized recruiting strategy
Instead of recruiting 25 high school kids and having half of them hit the portal, Prime and Colorado want a handful they expect to play right away
Doug Samuels Nov 13, 2024
What started with a comment in his very first face-to-face with Colorado players about "bringing his own Louis luggage" evolved into a full-fledged recruiting strategy the past few seasons for Deion Sanders and Colorado.
The controversial head coach has been criticized plenty during his time leading programs at Jackson State and now Colorado, but perhaps nothing has drawn more criticism that his affinity for players coming from the transfer portal while cleaning house on the roster he inherited.
While reloading the Buffs roster via the portal has surely driven competition in the locker room and on the field and paved the way for Colorado's 6-2 record so far this year, it has also drawn it's fair share of critics who are skeptical of his lack of hitting the road to recruit high school players.
Yesterday, Prime broke down some data on why they believe in their approach, and as with nearly everything with Prime, it has some great soundbytes.
"Let's just say we get 25 high school players. How many are going to play their freshman year? At the most, let's say four or five."
"No you've got 20 guys redshirting. So when you go through that spring with 20 guys redshirting, how many are you going to retain after that spring? How many are going to jump in the portal on you?"
"If any one of you want to try and go calculate this statistically, I've already done it. So it's going to be half."
"Okay. Well why don't I just focus on ten [high school recruits] then?"
"See, when we grab a freshman, we expect that guy to play. We're not looking to just redshirt you and develop you. No, no no. We're looking for you to come in and play some football."
"So our approach is somewhat different and heavily scrutinized, heavily criticized, but we know what we're doing."
Prime talks about top classes where highly recruited kids hit the portal and no one really talks about it being like an NFL team with the best draft goes out that season and gets crushed but no one says anything about it.
Hear Prime's full thoughts in the clip.