Linebacker Liona Lefau Reveals Reason For Transferring to Colorado

The Colorado Buffaloes landed one of their highest rated incoming transfers the defensive side of the ball this offseason in linebacker Liona Lefau. Lefau previously played for the Texas Longhorns and is a four-star transfer.

Liona Lefau Joining "Hungry" Colorado Buffaloes Team

Colorado Buffaloes Liona Lefau Transfer Portal Four-Star Linebacker Deion Sanders Texas Longhorns Coach Prime Defense Big 12 — Dec 21, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Legendary football and baseball player and father of Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion Sanders on the sidelines prior to a game against the Buffalo Bills at Huntington Bank Field. Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images | Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

Liona Lefau spoke to reporters and talked about why he chose to come to Colorado.

“I wanted to play for a hungry team. They brought in a lot of new players that were hungry,” Lefau said.

The Colorado Buffaloes were a very busy team in the portal this offseason. Liona Lefau was one of 43 incoming transfers to join Coach Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes.

Lefau signed with Texas as a four-star high school recruit in the class of 2023. He played for the Longhorns for three seasons from 2023-2025. In 42 games played, he totaled 139 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, five passes defended, one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble.

Lefau is now in Boulder as a member of “Coach Prime’s” defense, which will look a whole lot different in 2026 than it did in 2025.

Colorado Buffaloes' Revamped Defense

In addition to Lefau, the Buffs landed another four-star transfer on defense in safety Boo Carter. Carter was a four-star recruit that signed with the Tennessee Volunteers as part of their 2024 recruiting class.

In two seasons with the Vols from 2024-2025, Carter had 63 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, three passes defended, one interceptions, and three forced fumbles. Carter also returned punts and averaged 14.9 yards per return before he was released from the Tennessee football program in November of 2025.

In addition to highly-touted incoming transfers like Lefau and Carter, Colorado also has a new-look coaching staff starting at the top on defense. The Buffaloes new defensive coordinator is Chris Marve.

Marve was hired by Deion this offseason to be the Buffs linebackers coach. Everything changed when Colorado’s defensive coordinator in 2024 and 2025, Robert Livingston decided to accept the job to become the Denver Broncos defensive pass game coordinator later in the offseason.

With Livingston off to Denver, Deion promoted Marve, who had yet to even coach a game on the Buffs staff. However, Marve does have experience as a defensive coordinator from his time with the Virginia Tech Hokies when he was there from 2022-2024.

Marve will look to improve the Buffs defense from where it was in 2025. Colorado struggled on both sides of the ball in 2025 which contributed to their disappointing 3-9 record. The Buffs went 1-8 in Big 12 conference play, which put them in second to last place in the entire league. The only team they were ahead of was the 0-9 in Big 12 play Oklahoma State Cowboys, who fired their coach Mike Gundy during the season.

Colorado will kick off their 2026 season on Thursday, Sept. 3 on the road against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech beat Colorado in 2025 at Folsom Field.

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