Coach Prime’s relentless desire to bring in new talent has led to a record-setting number of departures over the past few days (Photo By Nathan Thompson/The Bold)

The Coach Prime era is officially in full swing, as this past Saturday, Colorado held their spring scrimmage at Folsom Field. It hosted over 47,000 fans, an unprecedented amount that beat out the attendance of the last nine spring games combined, as well as a national broadcast on ESPN. 

Morale was high around the new-look football team, but it appears it may only get newer as the spring and summer roll on, as at least 30 players that took part in the spring game will not be with the team moving forward.

New head coach Deion Sanders has rejuvenated the optimism both in Boulder and around the entire state of Colorado after a horrific 1-11 campaign last season and little success of note since the 1990s. Because of this, Coach Prime knew that most aspects of the previous campaigns of CU football needed serious rearrangement. 

“We don’t look behind us, we look ahead,” Sanders said on Saturday after the spring game.

This indicated that many players would not be part of his plan for the future, and that plan has already started coming to fruition.

As of the morning of April 27, 50 players from the 2022 Colorado football program have chosen to enter the transfer portal since Prime’s hiring in December. Since April 15, when the portal reopened, 43 players, both from years prior and that recently transferred to CU, have left to enter it. Since the spring game on Saturday, 31 of them entered the portal, including 18 on April 24 alone.

There will be, at most, 12 of the 84 scholarship players from last year’s team left on the Buffs going forward. No other Power Five college football program has ever lost more than 29 players to the portal in one offseason ever, and now CU is at risk of losing at least 72. This historic roster turnover has had many asking the same question – why? 

First, you have to look at the largest change to the team’s identity–Coach Prime himself.

With his hiring, Sanders has brought in many different culture-shifting people, including several top recruits from his successful coaching stint at Jackson State, such as his son, Shedeur Sanders, to start at quarterback. The No. 1 recruit of the 2021 high school class, two-way phenom Travis Hunter, is also set to join the Buffs, becoming possibly the most talented player to play for CU in recent memory.

Coach Prime has also started a campaign hell-bent on the transfer portal, building up what has become the top transfer class in the country, including studs such as wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr., running back Kavosiey Smoke, and linebacker Jeremiah Brown. 

Five-star corner Cormani McClain, three four-star talents, and a number of three-star recruits are on their way to CU as well for this season, revamping both sides of the ball to bring the black and gold back to the promised land.

This influx of talent from around the country seemingly makes it easy to see why so many of the old faces are set to depart. They would likely not see much of the field, limiting their experience with the team and stunting their development as players. However, with such an incredulous amount of players heading for the portal, some of them were baffling. 

Wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig, a key piece of the CU offenses over the past few years, had 154 yards and a long touchdown in the spring game, indicating a firm place in the depth chart. 

Cornerback Tayvion Beasley was one of the transfers Coach Prime brought with him from Jackson State last December, and offensive lineman Yousef Mugharbil joined CU from Florida in January. All three of these potential contributors now head to the transfer portal, and these decisions could indicate something more than just an issue with playing time.

Coach Prime brings with himself an unprecedented culture change that reflects his glamorous personality throughout his time as a Hall-of-Fame NFL cornerback, full of expression and energy. Though simultaneously, he has not become the conventional “player’s coach” many college athletes tend to favor.

His combination of old-school and new-school philosophies in his coaching style was largely praised during his time at Jackson State. However, since taking the reins of a Power Five program like Colorado, many doubts have been cast on how Coach Prime’s style will translate. As the amount of players transferring away may indicate, it may not be for everyone.

The next step in evaluating these decisions is to break down the future depth of the positions of every player recently heading out. Among the players heading to the portal so far (since April 15) are: 

• One quarterback
• Three running backs
• Five wide receivers
• Two tight ends
• Eight offensive linemen
• Six defensive linemen
• Six linebackers/edge rushers
• Eleven defensive backs (cornerbacks/safeties)

This list all adds up to 43 players looking for new homes through the portal since it reopened about a week and a half ago. And if you look at the dozens of transfers and recruits set to join the Buffs, many of the best players align with the position groups in which the majority of transfers are coming from. 

Additions such as Horn Jr. and Xavier Weaver, Horn’s teammate at USF, add to the receiving core, and McClain and Jackson State product Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig will likely compete for top spots in the secondary. The electric talent of Hunter will affect both the receiving group and secondary. 

Several recruits and additions are in the trenches as well, such as Brown, former Clemson Tiger Vonta Bentley on the defensive line, and former Kent State Golden Flash Savion Washington on the offensive line. However, the transfers influenced by these moves may leave the Buffs without adequate depth for the future.

Coach Prime is trying to build a monster, a from-the-ground-up coaching strategy never before seen in college football. His plan, both directly and indirectly, encourages this mass exodus of players in the portal. He embraces the new-age practices in college sports, such as NIL deals and the growing trend of player movement through the portal. 

“I’m bringing my luggage with me and it’s Louis,” Prime said in his opening remarks to the team back in December, referring to the slew of top talent Prime would recruit. “Go ahead and jump in that portal.”

Coach Prime and his hand-picked staff may have had direct influence on individual players as well. According to a report released on Wednesday by The Athletic, several players were told directly by Sanders and positional coaches that they were being cut and essentially forced into the portal. 

Offensive tackle Travis Gray and defensive back Jeremy Mack Jr. were among those brought into meetings with coaching staff and asked to leave for the portal, according to the article. Among the other various reasons for this unprecedented herd of Buffaloes headed elsewhere, these could certainly be considered more controversial, though the extent of these methods is not verified at this point.

Whether this complete roster makeover is valid or not, reinforcements are already on the way. Former Florida State defenders Derrick McLendon and Brendan Grant are among the most recent additions to the Buffaloes. With 59 more scholarship players to come at this point, it’s hard to imagine the roster is not full by the beginning of training camp, despite the staggering number of now-former Buffs on their way to the portal and the recent decommit of four-star recruit Ju’Juan Johnson.

While the biggest question that will linger throughout the offseason is how this mish-mash of talent from across the country will fit going into the inaugural season of the Coach Prime era, we will simply have to wait and see. 

“We already know what’s coming in,” said a relaxed yet confident Coach Prime in an interview with the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday.  “No way that I can put new furniture in this beautiful home if we don’t clean out the old furniture.”