Coach Prime saved CU money during his first Colorado football recruiting cycle by not spending a dime of the $200,000 allotted for a private air travel service for recruiting called Wheels Up meant to assist him with home and campus visits for recruits, as USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer reports.
"The data since Dec. 1, 2022 covers the last two winter contact periods on the NCAA recruiting calendar, which generally restricts head coaches from making off-campus recruiting contacts beyond the months of December and January," Schrotenboer prefaced before saying, "In Sanders’ case, his employment contract with Colorado also gives him an annual budget of $200,000 to use a private air travel service for recruiting called Wheels Up. He didn’t use it."
A big reason why Coach Prime isn't using this service is that he aims to recruit 80% of his roster through the transfer portal; half of them being grad transfers.
"Sanders, 56, arguably didn’t need to go on the road to recruit and has had physical mobility issues since 2021 because of blood clots in his legs and pain in his foot,"
Schrotenboer prefaced before saying, "He also didn’t recruit very many high school players and instead mostly has recruited transfer players – older players who already have moved out of their family homes and might not need to be wooed by a home visit from another prospective new coach."
Coach Prime accused of recruiting retreads to Colorado football this offseason
Of course, Coach Prime's strategy isn't popular with everyone. Mike Farrell Sports' Scott Salomon views this strategy as one that brought retreads to the offensive trenches.
"Last season, Prime offered the world to transfer portal candidates and grabbed over 60 players from the portal," Salomon prefaced before saying, "This season, things are different as he has a total of 16 players signed from the portal and they are nowhere near the quality group that Prime was looking for. Prime will retool his offensive line with retreads as opposed to freshmen that he and his staff can coach and develop."
If the success on the field comes in 2024, Deion Sanders' recruiting methods will not only be successful, but possibly more importantly for the University of Colorado, economical as well.