Coach Prime is known for building his roster through the transfer portal, but he’s far from immune to the roster churn that is the new normal across college football. Last offseason, he cleaned house with 57 outgoing transfers, and this year he lost 13 players from his roster to the portal.
Prime did an impressive job keeping the core of his roster together for Year 2, but it helps that two of his most important players are his offspring. Still, he deserves credit for keeping many of his team’s best players in Boulder.
The roster has improved with 24 incoming transfers and six quality high school recruits. Still, after a 4-7 season, the Buffaloes had plenty of holes to plug across the roster, and a few new leaks appeared after the portal cycle.
Colorado will need to replace these players who were the biggest losses of the offseason.
Colorado’s offensive line was a disaster last season. Shedeur Sanders was sacked 49 times, the second most in the entire country despite his average time to throw of 2.89 seconds ranking 52nd in the nation among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks.
However, Wells was the bright spot on the O-line, anchoring an inconsistent unit. Wells was on the field for 740 snaps, all at center and 514 of those were pass-blocking reps for the sophomore center. He only allowed 16 pressures and just two of the 49 sacks on Sanders.
The Buffs finished the year 133rd out of 133 schools in rushing offense averaging just 68.9 rushing yards per game, and the team struggled to compete in the trenches all year. However, Wells and left guard Jack Bailey were strong in the run game. On 48 runs between the center and left guard, Colorado rushers averaged 4.4 yards per carry with five runs of 10+ yards, compared to a 2.3 yards per carry season average.