“The more of you jump in, the more room we make.”
Coach Prime is wasting no time ushering in a new era at Colorado. Deion Sanders was named as the team’s new head coach on Sunday, and set about telling his players to hit the transfer portal as soon as possible.
Deion Sanders telling the CU Buffs football team that he’s bringing his own luggage, and that they better hit the portal. This is crazy pic.twitter.com/004LUKiTr2
— College FB Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) December 4, 2022
“We got a few positions already taken care of, because I’m bringing my luggage with me — and it’s Louis [Vuitton]. Okay, it ain’t gonna be no more of the mess that these wonderful fans, the student body, and some of your parents have put up with … for probably two decades now. I’m comin’ and when I get here it’s gonna be changed. So I wan’t y’all to get ready, to go ahead and jump in that portal, and do whatever you’re gonna get, because the more of you jump in, the more room we make, because we’re bringing in kids who are smart, say that, tough.”
This clip is going viral right now, and understandably so. There’s a lot of people up in arms with this moment in isolation, feeling like Sanders is basically telling a bunch of kids to leave school and head somewhere else because they don’t mesh with his vision of the football team. However, that’s really not the tone he’s going for here.
Yes, Sanders is going to “bring his luggage,” which most assume will include his son, Jackson State QB Shedeur Sanders, who threw for 3,383 yards, 36 TDs and 6 INTs this season as he led the Tigers to a 12-0 record in the SWAC. However, there was a lot more nuance in the complete 7:30 version of Sanders’ introduction, which definitely includes the challenge that players should get out and make room — but it was about changing the whole program, and getting on the same page. Sanders wants guys to leave who can’t handle his way of doing things.
Coach Prime pointed out that nothing was going to stay the same, from the uniforms to how Colorado conducted business. Sanders also noted that he sees the biggest problem with the team being that not enough people appreciate what they have, or believe in what they can be. “I have a problem when young men, with everything in front of them, don’t believe.” Sanders said. “That’s a problem”
He continued, “It’s a spirit around this team, around this school that is not traditional and in some kinda way you guys have accepted it and you’ve begun to be complacent with it.” At which point the new coach noted the players who chose not to come to his introductory meeting. “Some of the guys who aren’t here, who are so supposed to be here, those are the ones. All that’s gonna stop.”
Coach Prime also drove the point home that the facilities at Colorado are so vastly above what most student athletes get, and that a 1-11 record doesn’t reflect what the team should be capable of. “Our kids would go absolutely crazy to be in the situation you are in … but you don’t respect it.”
With every challenge and assertion there was one repeated refrain: “I’m comin’.” Yes he is, and Colorado best be ready because everything is about to be different.
