Colorado football loses reliable offensive line starter to transfer portal

Coach Prime's Colorado football program lost, as Buffaloes Wire's Jack Carlough correctly put it, a reliable starter in the offensive trenches on March 6 with Jack Bailey's decision to hit the portal as a grad transfer.

"During his lone season at Colorado, Bailey allowed only one quarterback hurry and had three games with a PFF pass-blocking grade above 80," Carlough prefaced before saying, "The Buffs’ offensive line certainly struggled for much of 2023, but Bailey proved to be a reliable starter for head coach Deion Sanders."

BuffZone’s Brian Howell sensed that Bailey could be a potential flight risk back in December after the departures of ex-Buffs offensive line coach Bill O’Boyle; who initially followed Sean Lewis to San Diego State but changed course and joined Northwestern's staff.

“Starting guard Landon Bebee has exhausted his eligibility, while Christian-Lichtenhan and Wells are now on the move,” Howell prefaced before saying, “That leaves guard Jack Bailey and tackle Savion Washington left, as far as starters go. Both of them transferred to CU from Kent State to follow offensive coordinator Sean Lewis and line coach Bill O’Boyle.

“Earlier this week, Lewis took the head coach job at San Diego State and it’s unlikely O’Boyle will return. With that, it’s unclear if Bailey and/or Washington will return to CU.”

Savion Washington the last OL remaining from 2023 Colorado football starting group

Savion Washington is the lone Buff remaining from Coach Prime's initial starting offensive line. It's not hard to see why after Deion Sanders called out the group and essentially tossed them aside like they were nothing before the season even ended.

“The big picture, you go get new lineman,” Sanders prefaced back in October after CU's loss to UCLA before saying, “That’s the picture and I’ma paint it perfectly.”

Bailey got that picture. It's not clear how long Washington will hold on, but he'll either be a success story or the last holdout who didn't make it two a second season in Boulder depending on how the next few months go.