Deion Sanders still hasn't taken any off-campus football recruiting visits: report

A major part of being a college football coach is the constant recruiting grind of making in-person visits with prospects both at their high schools and in their homes.

Deion Sanders is different: the Colorado head coach hasn’t visited a single home or high school in consecutive recruiting cycles, according to a USA Today report.

The school told the publication that Sanders handled his entire football recruiting regimen all from Buffaloes HQ in Boulder, Colo. despite boasting a $200,000 annual budget.

“I don’t go to nobody’s school or nobody’s house,” Sanders said last month on ABC News of his unique recruiting methods. “I’m not doing that.”

He added: “I’m too old to be going to somebody’s school, somebody’s house. All the kids that I’m recruiting, as a matter of fact, they in the portal. They’re grown men with kids. They don’t need me to come around their crib and try to convince them to come play for me, nah.”

So far, Sanders’ preference for the transfer portal has fared well for Colorado, as the school signed the consensus No. 1 ranked transfer class in 2023, and his 2024 portal haul was one of the nation’s 10 best, when taking a consensus of the national transfer class rankings.

Traditionally, making in-person visits has been critical for college football programs as their coaches look to build direct relationships with local coaches, players, and their families.

In the period between December 2022 and February 2024, LSU head coach Brian Kelly made 257 off-campus visits with prospects, and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule made 486 visits in the same time.

But in the NIL and transfer portal era, Sanders’ approach could look more like the norm.

NCAA rules no longer put a cap on official visits, so Colorado or any other school can simply pay for recruits to visit their own campus and spend time with football personnel.

And as college football looks towards a revenue-sharing model in the aftermath of House vs. NCAA, coaches will be more concerned with managing their salary cap than recruiting talent.

It’s one of many changes the sport has undergone and will continue to work out in the years to come, and one which Deion Sanders may be leaving a blueprint for how to handle.

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