Sonny Dykes explains distinct advantage Colorado has from scouting perspective
Colorado football will be a tough team to scout during the 2023 season due to all of the two-way movement of former and new Buffaloes to and from the transfer portal according to TCU head coach Sonny Dykes — who admitted that he and his Horned Frogs coaching staff will have to watch 60 teams’ game tape to properly prepare for their Week 1 matchup.
“They’re going to have a bunch of good players,” Dykes said on July 12 (h/t Footballscoop). “One thing (Deion’s) done a tremendous job of is attracting players — a lot of really high-quality transfers. They’re going to be hard to evaluate. You’re going to be watching like 60 different teams, trying to figure out who these guys are and what they do.”
Per 247Sports, Colorado football is welcoming 71 newcomers; including 21 high-school signees and 50 transfers. 10 of them are coming from new Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders’ last school, Jackson State, while five are coming from his alma mater FSU. Dykes could certainly focus on JSU first and foremost considering Sanders’ son, Shedeur, will be the Buffs’ starting quarterback this coming season and will likely run sets from the Tigers’ offense from the 2022 and 2021 seasons.
Colorado football offers unique challenges to opponents but even more to themselves
The Buffaloes will pose unique challenges to teams that will have very little idea of how this team will look — particularly TCU, which will be the first program to face a “Prime Time” Colorado team ever.
They pose even more problems to themselves, though.
The level of turnover the Buffs have undergone this offseason has been one of college football’s biggest storylines, particularly because of the way Sanders told many of his players; telling them to “go ahead and jump in that portal.”
On his first day at Colorado, Deion Sanders told the current players he was "bringing his own luggage" and to "go ahead and jump in that portal."
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 24, 2023
14 players have entered the transfer portal since their spring game on Saturday.
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In a sport with so many moving parts, having so few of them with previous experience playing together is plenty of reason to worry about chemistry issues popping up. That the man instituting these changes has never done so in a Power Five program, or even an FBS program, is also reason to worry.
Boulder’s transfer portal-made melting pot could be volatile for everyone involved, but it’s sure to entertain no matter what’s in store for the 2023 season.