Colorado Buffaloes Make Key Practice Schedule Change Before Georgia Tech

The Colorado Buffaloes did much of their fall work in the morning. With an evening kickoff at Georgia Tech, coach Deion Sanders revealed how the team is adjusting practice, sleep and breakfast times around the game.

Deion Sanders adjusted Colorado’s practice and sleep schedule ahead of Thursday night’s opener at Georgia Tech | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Colorado has done much of its practice in the morning. Thursday night’s opener at Georgia Tech will not kick off until 6 p.m. CT (8 p.m. local time), so Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders is changing the team’s practice routine before it travels to Atlanta.

At Monday’s game week press conference in Boulder, Sanders said the staff had adjusted practice, sleep, and breakfast times. He does not want weeks of early work to leave players feeling like their day should be winding down when the game is just starting.

“You want to change the body times. Like you can’t go morning, morning, morning. Then all of a sudden, you pop up in Georgia. Got a night game, and everybody’s sleepy around that time,” Sanders said. “So we’re changing the body dynamics and the time of sleep.”

Julian Lewis opens the season in Atlanta about an hour from where he grew up in Carrollton, Georgia. | CU Buffs

Deion Sanders changed more than Colorado’s practice time

Moving practice later is only a fraction of the plan. Sanders said Colorado also looked at how much sleep players are getting, when they eat, and what time they will go through their final work after arriving in Georgia.

The Buffs will hold a walk-through in the evening around the same time Thursday’s game begins. Sanders also said players will not have to get up at 6 or 7 a.m. for breakfast, giving them a chance to sleep later as the staff moves the day back.

The time zone change itself is modest. An 8 p.m. kickoff in Atlanta is 6 p.m. in Boulder. Sanders is not taking a cross-country trip or trying to create a hidden edge. The bigger point is getting Colorado comfortable doing its most important work later than it has for much of camp.

In other words, Sanders wants Thursday to feel less like an exception. The players will still have to handle travel, meeting meals, and a long wait before kickoff, but the staff can at least make the schedule around them look less intimidating.

Deion Sanders leads the Colorado Buffaloes onto Folsom Field before their 2025 game against Georgia Tech. Sanders is adjusting Colorado’s practice and sleep schedule before this year’s night-game rematch in Atlanta. | Matthew Jonas/Daily Camera

Why the timing makes sense

Sports science supports the underlying idea behind Coach Deion Sanders' idea, although there is no single perfect hour for every athlete. A 2023 systematic review found little evidence that morning or evening training is universally better, but it did find some evidence that athletes benefit when training and performance testing happen at similar times of day.

Sanders’ point is simpler than trying to beat a body clock. The staff is matching the routine to the competition. A team that has practiced early for weeks now has a few days to get used to being active, focused, and ready much later.

The adjustment is also important for Colorado quarterback Julian Lewis, who will open the season about an hour away from where he grew up in Carrollton, Georgia. Lewis already has enough new pieces around him as he takes over Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense. Colorado does not need the daily schedule to become another one.

Deion Sanders wants the details settled before Thursday

Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense will make its Colorado debut Thursday night at Georgia Tech as the Buffaloes adjust their routine for the late kickoff. | Samantha Laurey / Argus Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

None of this guarantees Colorado will look sharper in the fourth quarter, and Sanders never sold it that way. Georgia Tech still presents the real problems (a road opener, a physical team, and an opponent that beat Colorado 27-20 at Folsom Field in 2025).

The schedule change is simply one of the smaller things Colorado can control before the football veins deciding the rest. Sanders laid out the final piece of the plan when he explained what the team will do after traveling.

“Then we’ll have a walk-through tomorrow evening around the same time that game time would be, and they’re not to be up early at six or seven in the morning for breakfast. They could sleep in a little bit, because we’re shifting their body time once again,” Sanders said.

“We’re just trying to make sure we dot i’s and cross t’s,” Sanders said. “That’s it.”

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook for the latest news.