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BOULDER, Colo. − Deion Sanders has doubled down on his big bet with the Buffaloes.
Last year in his first season as Colorado’s football coach, he cleaned house to shake up the program, overhauling the roster by bringing in 68 new scholarship players, including 47 who transferred in from other four-year colleges. This year, he flipped the roster again – with 50 new scholarship players, including 39 new transfers.
But will his second team overhaul strategy work better this time after finishing with a 4-8 record last season?
Here are three reasons the Buffaloes will be much better in Sanders’ second season in Boulder – and three reasons they might fall short.
Colorado opens the season here at Folsom Field Thursday against North Dakota State (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Reason for success No. 1: The defense is better.
Sanders has been raving about his depth on defense, especially up front. Of the 39 new scholarship transfer players, 14 are defensive linemen or linebackers, helping transform a defense that ranked 130th out of 133 major college teams last year with yards per game allowed (453.3).
“I think we’re looking at seven, eight guys on defense that will probably be pros at the conclusion of the season,” Deion Sanders told reporters this month, noting that he gets regular feedback from NFL scouts.
That new beef in the box includes Arizona State transfer defensive end BJ Green and Pittsburgh transfer defensive end Dayon Hayes. Both will be part of an aggressive new scheme under new defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, a former assistant with the Cincinnati Bengals.
“We’ve got every style of rusher here man, so it’s going to be very scary for the offenses,” Hayes said recently. “They can’t beat it. Everybody got something different to bring so I love it.”
