Colorado in top half of Big 12 recruiting potential rankings
With their Big 12 jump set in less than a year, the Colorado football program is gearing up for new rivals on the trail and a talent pool that features a bigger focus on the country’s most fertile recruiting grounds: Texas.
In honor of CU, Arizona, ASU, and Utah making their Big 12 debuts a season after UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, and BYU do in 2023, 247Sports released a ranking of the recruiting potential each Big 12 team has — and Colorado ended up in the top half, tied with Arizona State at No. 6.
As for the other Pac-12 defectors, Utah sat at No. 2 behind College Football Playoff Championship runner-up TCU, while Arizona ranked at No. 10.
‘Flashy hire’ Deion Sanders more important for Colorado football than past results
As 247Sports’ Robbie Weinstein relayed, the name value of a head coach means more to recruits than a program’s past success; something that benefits both Colorado football, with Coach Prime, and Arizona State, with Kenny Dillingham.
“Coaching may be paramount for a college football program’s success in the short or medium terms, but it’s impossible to ignore the impact of geography on these long-term rankings,” Weinstein prefaced before saying, “Each of the Big 12’s four schools located in Texas ranked in the top half of this poll, with three of those four sitting in the top five. UCF’s location in Florida was also a big help.
“Stability, meanwhile, might be overrated as it relates to recruiting. West Virginia and Iowa State are two programs in turmoil that rank low in this poll, but Colorado and Arizona State haven’t experienced a smooth last couple of years either. Yet both comfortably rank in the top half here, due to a combination of flashy hires (Deion Sanders and Dillingham, who promptly signed blue chip quarterback Jaden Rashada) and location.”
Everyone in and around Boulder knows the gravity Deion Sanders brings, and if/when he leaves, there’s a possibility CU regresses back to the mean when it comes to their blue-chip ratio. For now, though, as long as Sanders is coaching the Buffs, Colorado is a live threat on the trail for anyone, especially defensive backs.