Deion Sanders Claps Back at Pat Narduzzi’s Criticism of Transfer Portal Use

More than 50 Buffaloes players have entered the transfer portal since the program hired the Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Deion Sanders did not waste any time in utilizing the transfer portal when he was named Colorado's football coach in December.

Since his arrival in Boulder, more than 50 Colorado players entered the transfer portal as the Pro Football Hall of Famer looked to bring in the best players to aid in the program’s massive rebuild. But in doing so, Sanders annoyed several people around the college football landscape that include Pittsburgh football coach Pat Narduzzi, who said in May that Sanders was abusing the transfer portal.

Narduzzi is one of many college football coaches who has seen a top talent exit a program. Prior to last season, Jordan Addison—Narduzzi’s then-All-American wide receiver— left Pitt for USC. 

Sanders responded to Narduzzi on Thursday, saying that Narduzzi’s displeasure about his use of transfer portal transcends the situation at Colorado.

“What was his [Narduzzi] situation when he came to Pitt? He had a different situation than me,” Sanders said in a Q&A with 247Sports. “He is not mad at me, he is mad at the situation in football now that allowed his best player to leave a year ago. He’s not mad at me, he’s using me to shoot bullets at another coach who he has an issue with. I don’t know who he is; if he walked in here right now I wouldn’t know him.”

Shortly after Sanders was hired, the 55-year-old encouraged players from the Colorado 1–11 team in 2022 to enter the transfer portal, saying, “We got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my luggage with me and it’s Louis.”

Meanwhile, Narduzzi argued that the transfer portal was not “meant to be” that way.

“It was not to overhaul your roster,” Narduzzi said in May. “We’ll see how it works out but that, to me, looks bad on college football coaches across the country.”

While Sanders’s recruiting tactics have ruffled the feathers of some, Colorado will surely look different as a team when the Buffaloes take the field in their season opener against TCU on Sept. 2.