Deion Sanders’ Recruiting Pipeline Faces Setbacks Ahead of Early Signing Period

The Colorado Buffaloes’ season wrapped up last weekend, and now the offseason officially begins. After a year full of adversity and challenges, the recruiting trail isn’t looking much brighter.

With the early signing period just days away, Colorado currently has only 10 hard commits, ranked No. 106 nationally according to 247Sports. Compounding that, the program is struggling to hold onto its prep players.

Colorado’s 2025 recruiting class brought in 15 prep players, but several have already left the program. Between last year’s signees and this year’s additions, only 19 prep players remain on the roster, most of them freshmen and sophomores, leaving a thin foundation to build around.

Deion Sanders Shedeur Sanders Travis Hunter Kaidon Salter Julian Lewis Big 12 Football Colorado Buffaloes Transfer Portal — Sep 20, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the Wyoming Cowboys at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

For Colorado coach Deion Sanders, that’s a thin group to build around, leaving little room for developing a roster that can compete consistently in the Big 12. Relying too much on the transfer portal can only get a program so far.

Right now, there’s little room to develop talent, and the roster isn’t balanced. The Buffaloes need to show they can build long-term success, or Colorado risks falling behind as the rest of the Big 12 moves ahead.

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Tracking Colorado’s Prep Signees: The Departures So Far

Colorado has taken some hits on the roster front. Four prep signees from last year’s class — offensive lineman Jay Gardenhire, wide receiver Adrian Wilson, cornerback Kyle Carpenter, and linebacker Mantrez Walker — are no longer with the program.

For a class that finished inside the national top 35, losing that many pieces is a real blow. For a program trying to build long-term stability, that kind of attrition is hard to ignore.

For Colorado, things haven’t gotten much smoother with this year’s recruiting class, either.

At one point, Sanders had three additional commits, including two four-star prospects who were supposed to be foundational building blocks. Tight end Gavin Mueller and defensive lineman Emanuel Ruffin fit that mold perfectly.

But both flipped late — Mueller to Miami and Ruffin to Ohio State, the reigning national champs. Those are powerhouse programs that any team, let alone Colorado, will struggle to fend off on the recruiting trail.

Still, losing both down the stretch only adds to the concern about the Buffs’ ability to hold onto top-tier talent. Unless Colorado can reverse that trend soon, the gap between where they are and where they’re trying to go is only going to get wider.

Deion Sanders Needs More Than Transfers to Build a Winning Program

Sanders’ heavy reliance on the transfer portal, coupled with a lack of focus on developing prep players, might not be sustainable.

This strategy has pushed Colorado further from contention rather than closer to it. After a 9-4 season a year ago, the Buffaloes dropped to 3-9 in Sanders’ third season.

Losing key transfer players like quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Travis Hunter left a void the program struggled to fill. Those two were central to keeping Colorado competitive over the last two seasons.

Instead of focusing on developing the next wave of Buffaloes, Sanders turned back to the transfer portal for quick fixes — and it hasn’t worked. Replacing Shedeur with quarterback Kaidon Salter, for example, didn’t pan out.

This has happened at several positions, and Colorado has leaned on short-term fixes instead of building for the future. If the Buffaloes want to compete in the Big 12, focusing on player development will be key.

For Sanders, the challenge is putting together a team that grows together and wins consistently, not just filling gaps through the transfer portal.