Have you ever heard of a controlled burning?<\/p>\n
Fire experts, oftentimes in the Northwest, purposely set fire to a forest or piece of land, ridding the area of dead trees, invasive plants, weeds and debris to prevent an actual wildfire. The objective is to give the soil a fresh start and maintain the natural health of the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even controlled fires come with consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A burning can kill unintended plants, trees and animal habitats. It leads to erosion and sedimentation. The air becomes toxic. There\u2019s the potential the burning gets out of control, and a wildfire happens anyways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How is any of this relevant to college football?<\/p>\n
What\u2019s happening at Colorado<\/strong><\/a> is essentially a controlled burning. Apologies to Lil Wayne, but Deion Sanders<\/a><\/strong> is now the Fireman.\u00a0<\/p>\n The roster reckoning happening in Boulder is unlike anything we\u2019ve ever seen in college football. Sanders is attempting the most aggressive Year 1 roster flip ever. He\u2019s making Lincoln Riley<\/a>\u2019s<\/strong> roster purge at USC<\/strong> last season look downright tame in comparison.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Monday, a whopping 18 Colorado players entered the transfer portal. Another submitted his name Tuesday. Last week, 13 other players left the program, too. For those counting, the Buffs have seen 42 scholarship players enter the portal since Sanders took over the team. The number of departures from the 2022 team stands at 46 in total <\/a>\u2014\u00a017 more than any other program in the country over the last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the moment he arrived in Boulder, Deion Sanders warned this would happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose of you that we don\u2019t run off, we\u2019re going to try to make you quit,\u201d Sanders said in his awkward but riveting introductory team meeting back in early December<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what the offseason gone look like. I want ones that don\u2019t want to quit. That want to work. That want to win. A heckuva lot of work. I want to get you to that breaking point. So I know what I got. I don\u2019t want to get in a game and find out I got Jane when all offseason I had Tarzan. I got to figure it out now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n During spring practice, what Sanders \u201cfigured out\u201d was the majority of players on Colorado\u2019s 1-11 team in 2022 did not suffice his expectations or vision. Whether they \u201cwalked out\u201d or were later \u201ckicked out,\u201d over 30 players have left the program since the second transfer window opened on April 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe team that we\u2019re playing with now is not the team that we\u2019re going to play with in Texas the first game (at TCU in Week 1),\u201d Sanders announced last week in advance of Colorado\u2019s spring game where he said \u201chope is in the house.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDo I need to say any more? It\u2019s gonna be a lot of new faces, a lot of\u00a0new attitudes, a lot of new understandings and a lot of new wants and desires and you\u2019ve got to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n But Colorado\u2019s controlled burning has come with some potential consequences, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sanders has culled a roster that certainly had plenty of players who did not project to ever be true Power 5 contributors. Those are the weeds getting burned.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Colorado \u2014 a team mostly bereft of talent outside of the transfers Sanders has brought to Boulder \u2014 has also seen some quality pieces leave the program in recent days, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n Receivers Jordyn Tyson<\/strong><\/a> and Montana Lemonious-Craig<\/strong><\/a>, who led CU in receptions and yards, respectively in 2022, likely would\u2019ve helped Buffs this fall. Lemonious-Craig was one of the stars of the spring game, catching a 98-yard touchdown and finishing the chilly afternoon with 168 yards and two scores.\u00a0<\/p>\n