What Deion Sanders Looks For When Recruiting Transfer Portal Players

Now healthy and playing a greater role in Colorado Buffaloes' offseason recruiting efforts, coach Deion Sanders opened up on what he looks for in potential transfer portal additions.

Sanders' longstanding "smart, fast, tough, disciplined with character" remains the overarching ideal for his players, but "Coach Prime" recently shared that he also considers recruits' family and their desire to excel in life.

Deion Sanders Recruiting Transfer Portal Players Colorado Buffaloes College Football Naeten Mitchell Big 12 Coach Prime Commi — Nov 29, 2025; Manhattan, Kansas, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders looks on during the first quarter against the Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-Imagn Images | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

"Family is everything, their want, their whys," Sanders said on Thee Pregame Show's "The Morning Run Live" earlier this week. "Sometimes, their why is sitting right there on the coach with them, and I want them to explain that and expand on that thought right in front of your why. If your why is your mama, talk to me about that, tell me."

Sanders added that he often has an honest conversation a recruit's mother in hopes of learning more about that particular player.

"I go straight to the mama because mamas ain't gonna lie," Sanders said. "Fathers will lie for their child. They want their son to be 'Little Chuck Chuck.' Mama's gonna keep it a buck because she wants you to really take care of her baby. She's gonna keep it a buck, she's gonna tell you what's up."

Family Involvement

Bringing up an example, Sanders said that one unnamed mother enjoyed Colorado enough on the visit to request all the necessary paperwork immediately. It should come as no surprise that because CU began its spring semester midway through the transfer portal window, parents are seemingly wanting to expedite the signing process.

"One mama said, 'You know what coach? I ain't got time to be waiting and signing all this paperwork and all this foolishness that goes on in college football right now that's going back forth. We here. Where's the papers at? Let's sign right now. I ain't got time for that because I prayed for that a year ago,'" Sanders said.

Perhaps most notably, new Colorado safety Naeten Mitchell's grandmother shared that she had long wanted her grandson to play for "Coach Prime."

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"I saw an interview where he was talking about my grandmother," Mitchell said in an interview with Phillip Dukes. "We went into the recruiting room and my grandmother told him about a time she wrote him a note. My grandma has really wanted this for me for a long time. She has talked about this for a long time. Being able to have her there and talk to him, it was a blessing."

Colorado has so far landed 42 transfer portal players, including 18 who spent last season at the Power Four level. With 80 scholarship players now on board, Sanders told Thee Pregame Show that he'll likely still add a junior college transfer or two.

Colorado's transfer portal class ranks No. 22 nationally and No. 4 in the Big 12 Conference, per 247Sports.