Colorado football's mass exit of players was not only expected, but also enacted by first-year coach Deion Sanders and his staff, according to multiple player interviews with The Athletic and The Denver Post — and Sanders himself.
Twenty-three players have entered the portal since Saturday's Black & Gold scrimmage, which set a program record for attendance at a spring football game. Five transfers who spoke to The Athletic (subscription required) claimed Sanders' staff essentially forced them to leave, and also showed favoritism to players who transferred in.
Said freshman tight end Zach Courtney, who entered the portal on April 19:
"None of the new coaches would talk to the old players and treat us the same as the people they brought in. The new guys wouldn’t be picked on as much in film. Coaches would tell them to just do better, but if it was an old player, they’d keep going off on what you did wrong and keep yelling about it."
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More than one player who spoke to The Athletic claimed Sanders and his staff didn't coach them as much as players who transferred in, presumably because they would soon be leaving the program.
"I felt like he was more of a motivational speaker," Courtney said of Sanders. "He gives good advice, but he didn’t really talk to me once. I never really got to experience his coaching."
Added former Colorado defensive back Simeon Harris: "I didn’t really talk to him much, but you say what’s up in the elevator, say good morning, things like that."
Other transfers said their first one-on-one meetings with Sanders came when he told them they were being cut. That was the experience of freshman tackle Travis Gray, who told The Athletic that Sanders moved up a meeting originally scheduled for Monday to tell him he was no longer a part of the team. Gray received news from Sanders on Sunday, his day off.
"I was like, 'Oh, God.' I saw the mean mug in (Sanders') face," Gray told The Athletic. "He told me, 'You’re 6-foot-8, 320 pounds. I know in my heart of hearts a school is going to pick you up in the portal when you enter. Make your weaknesses your strengths and keep progressing. I hope you have a great future, it just won’t be here at the University of Colorado.'"
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Sanders' team-building philosophy so far in Boulder, Colo., has been to cut numerous players who were members of last year's team that went 1-11. The first-year Buffaloes coach said as much in a viral team meeting with players in January, encouraging them to enter the transfer portal.
“We’ve got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my luggage with me,” Sanders said. “And it’s Louis (Vuitton). I’m coming. It ain’t going to be no more of this mess that these wonderful fans, this student body, and some of your parents have put up with for probably two decades now. I’m coming. And when I get here, there’s going to be change.
"So I want y’all to get ready to go ahead and jump in that portal. Do whatever you’re going to get. Because the more of you who jump in, the more room you make. Because we’re bringing kids that are smart, tough, fast, disciplined, with character."
Sanders on Wednesday told "The Pat McAfee Show" it was always his intent to cut players on Colorado's team. It is part of a strategy to break through what Sanders described as systemic complacency in a program that has two winning seasons since 2005.
"People got to be crazy to think this just happens. It don’t just happen. You make it happen," Sanders said. "You know what you want. I can’t stand people who pull up to the drive through and don’t know what they want. Before I get there I know what I want. I’m not just making this stuff up as I go. We know what we want. And I don’t concede, man. I don’t settle."
He has been able to do so thanks to a recent NCAA rule that allows teams to cut players, so long as the university honors their scholarship. While the deadline to enter the portal is April 30, teams can still pick and choose among transfers in the portal past that date.
Sanders and Co. have used it to great effect this offseason, adding 29 transfers — more than any other FBS team — to claim the top-ranked class in 2023, per 247Sports. It includes eight of Sanders' players from Jackson State, which won the SWAC championships under his leadership in 2021 and 2022.
He also said there are more players coming to Colorado this offseason who have not yet been publicized.
"We already know what we got coming in." Sanders told McAfee. "Y’all just don’t know.
"There’s no way I could put new furniture in this beautiful home without cleaning out the old furniture. And that’s not a shot. … It’s great furniture. A lot of people love it. And a lot are going to love it. But that’s not what we want. That’s not what we deserve."
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That strategy has necessitated cutting players, which Sanders acknowledged after Saturday's spring game. He claimed the process was "gonna be fast," but that it would ultimately get done. So far, 46 players have transferred from Colorado since Sanders' hiring.
Some of those include notable contributors from last year such as receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig, who last year led the team with 23 receptions and who had a 98-yard touchdown reception in Saturday's spring game. Others include running back Deion Smith and receiver Jordyn Tyson, who led the Buffaloes in rushing and receiving in 2022, respectively.
While players of that caliber will be picked up in the portal, many who have been forced out have yet to find a new home — a task some never wanted to undertake in the first place.
"I couldn’t have stayed (at Colorado)," receiver Grant Page told the Post. "I really wanted to. They said it was just best for me to leave."
Sanders said as much on Wednesday in talking about the revival of Colorado's football program.
"This is the genesis of Colorado football," Sanders told McAfee. "But right after the Genesis, if you're a Bible guy, what's the next book?
"Exodus."