{"id":4292,"date":"2023-05-05T00:36:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T05:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2023-05-05T00:36:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T05:36:19","slug":"colorado-ad-rick-george-defends-deion-sanders-amid-major-roster-turnover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/colorado-ad-rick-george-defends-deion-sanders-amid-major-roster-turnover\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado AD Rick George defends Deion Sanders amid major roster turnover"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Deion Sanders<\/a><\/strong> took the head coaching job at Colorado<\/a><\/strong>, he made his intentions clear when it came to revamping the roster. His meeting with the Buffaloes went viral.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a few positions already taken care of because I\u2019m bringing my luggage with me. And it\u2019s Louis,\u201d Sanders told the players in December<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cI\u2019m coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has certainly arrived. Colorado has seen major turnover since as 56 players entering the transfer portal<\/a><\/strong> and leaving the program after last year\u2019s 1-11 campaign. The amount of players leaving has garnered plenty of attention across the college football world, but Sanders\u2019 boss \u2014 Buffaloes athletic director Rick George<\/strong> \u2014 is rising to his defense.<\/p>\n

*Follow all Colorado Buffaloes news on Facebook here*<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not the first to do this,\u201d George told Sports Illustrated\u2019s Ross Dellenger<\/a>. \u201cEighteen months ago, there was a lot of criticism in our program because guys were leaving. Around 24 to 25 left in December [2021] right after the season. Similar things have happened at other schools. We are not unique in this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that in a coach\u2019s first year, you have a head coach exemption, which is part of NCAA rules. Having conversations with student-athletes after spring ball \u2026 \u2018Hey, this may not work out. You may not get the playing time you want. We\u2019ll help you go somewhere else.\u2019 That\u2019s what those discussions were about. After everybody\u2019s season, coaches and student-athletes are having those conversations. Yeah, it\u2019s a lot, but we are focused on getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado isn\u2019t the first program to see significant turnover after a coaching change. Last year, 25 players left USC<\/a><\/strong> as the Trojans brought in 19 players \u2014 including Caleb Williams<\/a><\/strong> and Jordan Addison<\/a><\/strong>, who were the top two transfers in the 2022 On3 Transfer Portal Rankings \u2014 as Lincoln Riley<\/a><\/strong> took over. This offseason, Arizona State<\/a><\/strong> saw 30 players enter the portal once Kenny Dillingham<\/a><\/strong> took over for Herm Edwards<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But George pointed to Sanders\u2019 honesty about using the portal, between his comments about bringing \u201cluggage\u201d and recent reporting about conversations with players who left the program. He said other coaches aren\u2019t sharing as much about the process as Sanders is, and he\u2019s simply following through on his promises.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s more open and honest about it. I think that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d George said. \u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with that. At the end of the day, he\u2019s doing what he said he would do.\u201d<\/p>\n

To offset the players leaving, though, Sanders has brought in 36 players from the portal this cycle, giving Colorado the No. 1-ranked transfer class this cycle, according to the On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings<\/a><\/strong>. Among the group coming in is former Five Star Plus+<\/a><\/strong> recruit Travis Hunter<\/a><\/strong>, who was one of eight players to follow Sanders to Colorado from Jackson State<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The post Colorado AD Rick George defends Deion Sanders amid major roster turnover<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Deion Sanders took the head coaching job at Colorado, he made his intentions clear…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}