The 2026 recruiting cycle has been unkind to Colorado. The Buffaloes are working from well behind after Deion Sanders' bladder cancer kept him away from the program for a couple of months, allowing other teams to swoop in and steal away the top targets on Colorado's board.
Coach Prime has been working hard to make up ground, but he is unfortunately starting from too far behind, too late in the process to make headway with some of the top uncommitted prospects who are nearing decisions.
Earlier this week, Colorado's top remaining prospect left on the board, 4-star Detroit ATH CJ Sadler, saw a prediction come in to land with Bill Belichick and North Carolina. Sadler is set to announce his commitment on Friday and is trending away from Boulder and toward Chapel Hill.
Sadler choosing the Tar Heels would be a tough pill to swallow, but it doesn't mean Sanders is going to just pack it in and give up on this class, either. It just means he might have to lean more into flipping committed prospects and then the Transfer Portal come December.
Another potential flip target has recently emerged, one that has now scheduled a gameday visit to Boulder this fall.
Colorado among several major programs working to flip Tulane commitment Brayden Allen
3-star WR Brayden Allen has seen his recruitment heat up since announcing his commitment to Tulane last month. Since he made that decision, Ole Miss, Colorado, and Oklahoma have all offered the Lafayette, Louisiana native.
Now, he's locked in a couple gameday visits for this fall, per Rivals:
Tulane WR commit Brayden Allen has locked in official visits to Colorado and Oklahoma, @samspiegs reports✈️
— Rivals (@Rivals) August 14, 2025
Read: https://t.co/hilfxFH8MK pic.twitter.com/111wyi03qz
According to the 247Sports timeline, Allen will take an official visit to Oklahoma on September 20th, and the following week, on the 27th, he'll be in Boulder. He'll be in town to see BYU make the trip to face Colorado at Folsom Field in what will undoubtedly be the raucous environment everyone has come to expect during the Deion Sanders era.
Allen had a breakout junior season in high school a year ago, producing 1155 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns. He's likely in line for an even bigger senior season, and his recruitment is likely to continue to heat up.
Tulane will have its work cut out for it to hold on to the in-state product, as many major programs are hot on its heels and looking to flip him.