Deion Sanders: Colorado Builds Roster Like NFL Free Agency with CFB Transfer Portal

Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders says the Buffaloes approach the NCAA transfer portal like an NFL team considers free agency.

"We're different from a multitude of other teams," Sanders said Tuesday on Thee Pregame Show. "What has worked for us tremendously, we pattern this thing like the NFL. The NFL only has several draft choices for the 53-man roster, and we go about it from free agency standpoint.

"Then we look at high school. Probably, we would love seven to ten. Sometimes we fall short of that, because in this day and age, and the stage, we want guys that we know could do it right now. We don't have time to develop right now."

Sanders has plenty of roster improvements to consider as the Buffaloes look to build on a 4-8 campaign which included eight losses in the final nine games of the 2023 season.

"We don't mind developing players, but you'll be fired by the time you develop 30 freshmen, inheriting a 1-11 team," Sanders said, referencing the Buffaloes' record the season before he was hired.

Sanders added that his staff did "homework" to decipher transfers' reasons for entering the portal.

"This is the thought. You know why your guys got in the portal. You're hoping these guys didn't get into the portal for the same reasons," Sanders said.

"You've got to make sure, and do you homework, and research, and due diligence that that guy fits you," Sanders continued. "And sometimes you miss that. Sometimes you don't do that effectively, and you miss. And you've got to admit, I missed.

"But more so than the others, you want to make sure you're getting that guy that fits you. He has to fit what you're doing... You're bringing him in, and you have an expectation of him right now. Not later."

Sanders will hope he has found that player in Ohio State running back Dallan Hayden. On3's Hayes Fawcett reported Monday that Hayden had committed to join Sanders in Boulder.

After recording 553 yards and five touchdowns his freshman year, Hayden is looking for more playing time after a redshirt sophomore season with the Buckeyes.

He is likely to get the opportunity as the Buffaloes brace for the exit of running back Dylan Edwards, whom ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reported Tuesday is expected to enter the transfer portal. Edwards started the first four games of the 2023 season.

Edwards is the latest in a series of exits that have seen at least 14 Colorado players enter the NCAA transfer portal.

The Buffaloes already lost to the portal tailback Alton McCaskill, who started four games before redshirting last season, as well as cornerback Cormani McClain, a former five-star recruit who started four games and appeared in nine.

Right tackle Savion Washington (nine starts) as well as defensive tackle Chazz Wallace (four starts in the last four games) are transferring, as is safety Jaden Milliner-Jones, who played 12 games last season.

ESPN's Kyle Bonagura reported that Sanders said the team was mainly losing backups, and that the Buffaloes planned to bring in potential transfer starters for visits in the near future.