Coach Prime's Colorado football roster-building strategy was compared by Mike Farrell Sports' Kyle Golik to Lane Kiffin's own brand of transfer portal-savvy style at Ole Miss -- and as Golik notes, the latter is seemingly far more focused on bringing on high school stars.
"Kiffin has done wonders in the portal, scooping up elite transfers that have redefined the Ole Miss program," Golik prefaced before saying, "Ole Miss has demonstrated excellent balance in this regard. When you look at Deion Sanders' strategy at Colorado, they are extremely portal-heavy, significantly more so than Ole Miss. Coach Prime doesn’t travel to high school recruits and feels that the portal is their foundation, not a supplement, to their program."
The keyword this writer used before, seemingly, is an important one. Coach Prime has landed more 5-star recruits from the collegiate ranks -- flipping Cormani McClain from Miami during the last offseason and landing Jordan Seaton during the Early Signing Period -- than Kiffin has since he took over the Rebels in 2020.
Analyst explains Coach Prime's Colorado football roster-building mentality
BuffsBeat's Josh Tolle laid out Deion Sanders' roster-building mentality well; one oft-misunderstood for being one that comes from apathy or a lack of skill.
"Coach Prime has his standard with the 40-40-20 rule down," Tolle prefaced before saying, "And while many people clamor for quantity and want to throw everything at the window to see what sticks to appease the fan base, that's not the case for Sanders. If a recruit doesn’t live up to the hype or gets injured, it's always the next man up, but not for a line of fourth-and-fifth string guys.
"For Coach Prime, it is about quality and knowing that they have the best player that fits within the team while making a difference on the field. He puts belief and confidence into these players and sees who will live up to the hype and will put in the work to become the player that they are expected to be."
Coach Prime has gotten several high-level high school recruits and transfers throughout his career. If he can simply keep his son Shedeur Sanders protected in the pocket, something Seaton and his fellow newcomers from the portal will ensure, Deion will have propelled the Buffs closer to where Kiffin's Rebels are at now.