Colorado's Deion Sanders still defending roster flip says it "had to be done"

Coach Prime doing his job to build the best Buffaloes team

CU Buffs

Deion Sanders shouldn't have to defend himself about the roster flip. But, he did so again during CU's Media day on Friday. Coach Prime addressed several questions from the media and said the overhaul “had to be done” prior to the start of the season. He didn't shy away from laying out the process.

“It was tremendously tough because you had some young men that just didn’t want to play the game, they didn’t love football," Sanders said. "It’s hard for me to be effective if you don’t love it, if you don’t like it, if you don’t want to live it. That’s tough."

Sanders brought in over 70 new players to Colorado with a majority of those coming via the transfer portal. Most outsiders took offense to the massive changes, but they don't understand the business decision behind it all. If you hire a coach with the caliber of Prime, there is an expected ROI that comes with the territory. Colorado is better off now with a stockpile of talent, and you can give credit to Sanders and his staff for that.

A total of nine scholarship players return from last year’s Buffaloes team, including Trevor Woods, who made the best of his opportunity. It's not about the fact the team won a single game in 2022, but rather most of the roster wasn't going to fit the mold under a new era with Sanders.

“I’m happy with what I see every morning now," Sanders noted. “I know it was a huge overhaul, but it had to be done,”

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Sanders comes into the season with his FBS debut right around the corner. The 56-year-old Hall-of-Famer has dealt with a few setback recently, undergoing two surgeries to remove blood clots with less than a month in between operations. He's fighting everyday just like his team.

Colorado opens the 2023 football season with a marquee match-up on the books in Fort Worth. They'll face last year's runner-up TCU, who lost nearly half of their storied team. It's the first meeting between Sanders and Sonny Dykes on FOX's Big Noon Saturday.