After a disappointing 3-9 season in year three of the Coach Prime era, there's been plenty of chatter about the future of Deion Sanders at Colorado.
It was a hot topic after both Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders entered the 2025 NFL Draft, and his ailing health brought rampant speculation that Coach Prime was looking for a way out of Boulder.
But Sanders defied the speculation and committed himself to a Buffs rebuild. Colorado has undergone a massive roster overhaul in the Transfer Portal, losing some key players in the process, like Jordan Seaton and Tawfiq Byard, among others, but also brought in some impressive talent.
It's clear that Sanders has gone away from favoring potential in the portal to focusing on production. Many of Colorado's portal additions have been players who were hyper-productive at lower levels, perhaps inspired by what Curt Cignetti just did at Indiana to capture the Hoosiers' first ever national championship.
But the proof will be with the on-field results in 2026. And according to CBS's Brad Crawford, Sanders will enter the season on the hot seat. Crawford ranked Coach Prime No. 10 on his list of 10 coaches on the hot seat heading into the 2026 season.
CBS writer places Deion Sanders on the hot seat heading into year four
Pretty much everyone outside of Boulder has expected Sanders to leave Colorado at some point. This was always figured to be a stepping stone type of job for the Hall of Fame DB, but nobody expected hot seat conversation to be at the forefront heading into his fourth season.
Especially not after a breakthrough 2024 campaign where Colorado won nine games. But bookended by two losing seasons, that nine-win year is now looking more like an outlier than the new normal for the Buffs.
And that's what Sanders will be fighting against next year. Can he prove that the 2024 season wasn't an outlier, and he can win without his son and Travis Hunter leading the way?
JuJu Lewis certainly looks the part at QB, but with almost an entirely new roster, there's a wide range of possible outcomes for next season's Buffs.
With a buyout exceeding $26-million, it's hard to believe an athletic department struggling to come up with funds like Colorado's would be willing to pull the trigger and pay that.
But the on-field product simply has to improve.