Colorado’s Deion Sanders on recruiting visits: ‘My approach is totally different’

A recent report from USA Today detailed how Colorado head coach Deion Sanders hasn’t made any off-campus recruiting visits since becoming the school’s head coach in December 2022. The report also mentioned how former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian had made 120-plus off-campus recruiting visits apiece over that span.

When asked about the matter at a Colorado press conference, Sanders explained why that’s the case.

“My approach is totally different than many coaches,” Sanders told The Athletic on Wednesday. “I’m a businessman, as well, so I try to save our university money every dern chance I get. For me to go, let’s say I go to Florida, and I’m visiting IMG: you don’t think those coaches are going to be a little upset if I don’t come by the school down the street? You don’t think it’s going to be pandemonium, or I’m gonna get naysayed if I don’t go another 45 minutes? 

“Then, if I go to that one, why didn’t I come to that school? Now the coach is mad, and he’s not gonna let the kid come because I chose that school over that school. Other coaches, they can do that, but I can’t.”

Sanders is entering his second season running the show in Boulder. After winning its first three games of the 2023 season, Colorado lost eight of its ensuing nine games, finishing 4-8 overall and just 1-8 in Pac-12 play.

The Buffaloes are now moving to the Big 12 for the 2024 college football season, along with former Pac-12 rivals Utah, Arizona and Arizona State. They were last members of the Big 12 in 2010.

Colorado’s 2023 roster was one devised in historical fashion, as it had 50-plus players transfer to the university to play for Sanders. One of those players was Sanders’ son, senior quarterback Shedeur Sanders — who threw for 3,230 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 69.3% of his passes across 11 games last season. 

Sanders has the potential to be the first quarterback off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft. That said, his dad hopes that the signal-caller is playing “nowhere cold” when that time comes.

As for the upcoming season, 247Sports ranks Colorado’s 2024 recruiting class as 22nd in the country, with its transfer portal class ranked sixth. The Buffaloes’ 2024 recruiting class is highlighted by five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton, who announced his intention to attend Colorado on “Undisputed.”

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