First-year Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has always been known for doing things his own way.
When he arrived in Boulder, Sanders created headlines by telling his players that he was bringing his “luggage” with him from Jackson State, and if they didn’t like that, they could hit the portal.
Since that proclamation, an FBS-leading 46 players have taken up Sanders on that offer. For comparison, Arizona State and Ole Miss are in second place with 29 players leaving their respective programs.
Sanders remains unfazed. He said some of the players that left simply didn’t love the game of football.
“It was tremendously tough, because you had some young men that just didn’t want to play the game. They didn’t love football. It’s hard for me to be effective if you don’t love it, if you don’t like it, if you don’t want to live it. That’s tough,” Sanders said when asked whether it was difficult implementing his program when he first took over, according to Fox News.
“That’s tremendously tough when you’re looking at a body of just dead eyes. That’s tough on any coach, not just me. I’m pretty sure a multitude of coaches have experienced that until they could clean house and get the roster they want. It was tremendously challenging day by day. I’m happy with what I see every morning now. I really am.”
We’ll get our first look at a Sanders-led Colorado team on Sept. 2nd when it faces the TCU Horned Frogs on the road.
[Fox News]