Buffs Beat

Colorado players rebuke negative report about Coach Prime, "Don't believe the lies"

Coach Prime and his players have something to say about the castaways

Josh Tolle

CU Buffs

Deion Sanders doesn't get enough credit for the undertaking he has done in Boulder. It's easy to pick apart the way he has revitalized college football because nobody else has walked in his shoes.

While the transfer portal wasn't created when Sanders stepped into coaching, he just developed it into a tool to find better talent without going through a recruiting cycle. Not to mention, there isn't a flood of Hall-of-famers knocking down doors to coach. It's just not happening, which makes Coach Prime one of the rarest in the game. He has also bought in two other gold jacket guys with Warren Sapp on staff officially and Terrell Owens around unofficially.

All of this considered and still there are a few willing to throw dirt on Sanders' name. This was the case with a recent article published by The Athletic that offered the thoughts of former CU players who were removed from the program. Not only was this a one-sided piece that left many questions unanswered, it was a recycled write-up originally done by the Associated Press on Nov. 30, 2023. Former Colorado player Xavier Smith provided the same narrative at the end of last year that he did now.

"We sat on the sofa, and he’s talking to us, but he’s not even looking at us,” Smith told The Athletic. “I’m looking Coach Kelly dead in his eyes. (Sanders) said he felt like I should hit the portal. He didn’t want me to waste a year thinking I could earn a spot.

“I was actually getting mad, like tears coming to my eyes. Because, bro, you never even tried to get to know me.”

Smith latched on to Austin Peay after leaving Colorado. His story was one of many written by The Athletic. But everyone who's no longer with the program is going to share details about their time with Coach Prime. Right, wrong, or indifferent... There is a common theme being presented and The Athletic wasn't interested in sharing both sides. They got what they wanted in their bend-the-block "drive-by" with old players gone from CU for well over a year and never played a snap under Prime, or ones that didn't fit the standard.

Let's talk about this from a realistic perspective. Coach Prime was hired to do a job. One that Karl Dorrell failed at with kids who barely beat Cal for a 1-11 record in 2022. It was one of the lowest points in school history. Why would he feel obligated to take on a bunch of athletes with no will to play the game he helped build? Seriously, Sanders is one of the only Hall-of-Famers who would be considered for an "Upper Room" in Canton. Any coach hired by an irrelevant program needs to change the culture and that's what he did.

Nobody in the conversation remembers how back Colorado was two years ago. The Buffs had 22 total touchdowns in 12 games, which is less than two per game. They doubled that last year with a total of 42. Once again, why would Sanders feel compelled to take on a bad team? The answer is he refused to accept failure. That's the real reason why people are upset. Coach Prime quickly discovered who was ready for the next level in Boulder and got rid of the ones who weren't willing to put in the work. Those ones aren't "hard to find" and typically have something to say about everything.

For context, here are the thoughts of current CU football players about the piece put together by The Athletic.

Tyler Brown, who waited out last year after the NCAA wrongfully denied his waiver, tells a much different story about Coach Prime and CU's staff. He was one of the rare ones that came from Jackson State and stuck with him all the way to Boulder.

"Absolutely frustrating seeing all these negative articles about my coach and our program," Brown wrote on X. "You work hard and you will be rewarded! Coach Prime and the wonderful staff at CU checked on me every single day and made sure I was okay when I couldn’t play! Don’t believe the lies"

Brown isn't the only one who came to Prime's defense and wanted to set the record straight. Check out the receipts.


Published
Josh Tolle

JOSH TOLLE