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Wasson: Coach Prime was right at Colorado, he was always right
By David Wasson
Published:
“One thing I can say honestly and candidly: You better get me right now. This is the worst we’re gonna be. You better get me right now.” – Deion Sanders, Colorado football coach, Sept. 23, 2023
When Deion Sanders sat in front of cameras last September after his team got demolished by Oregon 42-6, it was practically fashionable to proclaim that Colorado’s grand experiment was all hat and no cattle. The Buffaloes had just sustained their first loss of Coach Prime’s rookie season in Boulder, but the writing was on the wall.
Colorado was trending to awful, couldn’t keep Deion’s son – quarterback Shedeur Sanders – upright in the pocket, and was unable to properly capitalize on perhaps the most transcendent 2-way player in the past 20 years. It added up to the Buffaloes finishing 4-8 and claiming a last-place spot in the Pac-12.
Say what you will about Sanders, and Saban knows every pundit in America – this one included – has negatively opined about Coach Prime since he decamped from Jackson State to Colorado.
A lot of the criticism that was (and is) lobbed at Colorado, of course, has kernels of truth to it. Yes, the Buffaloes have at times resembled a 3-ring circus more than functioning college football program. Yes, Coach Prime’s mouth works at the kind of clip that would make career politicians blush. Yes, Colorado shamelessly capitalized on Deion’s fame to sell a boatload of merch. Yes, there are few programs in America that rely more passionately on the transfer portal – for better or for worse – than the Buffs.
Say what you will, good or bad, but make sure you start saying this: Colorado is good, very good. And Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes are primed to be a major spoiler in the 2024 College Football Playoff picture.
Prime was right.
Prime was always right.
Currently 8-2, Colorado is not only firmly in the mix for the Big 12 title, but the 16th-ranked Buffs are also lurking around the edges of the Magic 12 to make the expanded postseason. Riding a 4-game winning streak that includes last weekend’s 49-24 destruction of Utah, Colorado is tied with BYU in the Big 12 with 2 games remaining – and could well lock up a shot at the Cougars on Dec. 7 for the conference crown in Dallas.
At the center of it all is the 14k-bedecked, perpetually-sunglassed, always-sermonizing Sanders. Part carnival barker, part game-changing recruiter, part salesman and unabashedly all Prime, Sanders is the maestro of the mountains these days. And those receipts he was keeping all last year are being cashed in quicker than anyone imagined.
Except Sanders himself, of course. Prime is no enigma, as his “Ain’t Hard To Find” hoodie proclaims. During Colorado’s early victories before the fall came in 2023, you could barely scroll from one end of the TV dial to the other without seeing his smiling visage. And even when the Buffs were losing to pretty much the entire Pac-12, the plan behind the scenes was unfurling apace.
Colorado turned in some faulty Louis Vuitton from its first go-round in the portal over the offseason for upgraded product – both to ensure Shedeur Sanders makes it through his college experience upright and active, and to upgrade a porous defense that finished 11th in a 12-team conference in total yards allowed.
Both missions were a resounding success, as was upgrading Sanders’ assistant coaching staff – moving Pat Shurmur from a quality control analyst to offensive coordinator, adding veteran NFL assistant Robert Livingston as defensive coordinator, and bringing in offensive line coach Phil Loadholt. Not to mention adding Hall of Famer Warren Sapp to mentor the defensive line.
The results have been nothing short of astounding. Yes, there was the 28-10 road setback to Nebraska on Sept. 8 that Sanders wrote off as “just not indicative of who we are” and a 31-28 loss to No. 18 Kansas State on Oct. 13 had Coach Prime proclaiming “we should’ve had that” postgame. But the rest of Colorado’s performances have been weekly reminders that the talent, speed, power and acumen assembled in Boulder is quite potent.
With 2 games to go – a road trip to Kansas this weekend and a home date against Oklahoma State – not only is Hunter the Heisman Trophy betting favorite but Shedeur Sanders is good enough to siphon off some Heisman votes away from his teammate. Recruiting, which wasn’t a problem for Coach Prime from the jump, is only getting stronger as the wins pile up. And a potential trip to the Big 12 title game in the Buffaloes’ first season in the conference is very much within reach.
Deion Sanders has unquestionably worked wonders at Colorado, critics be damned. The vibe at Folsom Field was intense in 2023 and is ratcheted up even more this season. The on-field product is sounder than anyone anticipated, and at the center of the 3-ring circus is a grinning Pro Football Hall of Famer who tried to tell you what was coming.
Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. has built a football program out of the thinning air in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. You should’ve gotten Coach Prime last year, because that was the worst the Buffaloes were going to be.
Now? Prime and Colorado want it all – a conference title, a spot in the College Football Playoff, nationwide respect and even some shiny national championship bling.
Prime was right.
Prime was always right.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
