There’s no coach in sports like Deion Sanders and, in turn, there’s no team right now that’s like Colorado. That’s to their benefit but could also be to their detriment depending on how it goes in Boulder according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Thamel discussed the latest around the Buffaloes with Rece Davis during an episode of the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ last week. He began by maintaining that Coach Prime and company are still among the top stories in the sport based solely on intrigue.
“I think Colorado, again, Rece, will be the most interesting program in college football,” said Thamel. “Like, they have continued to be relentlessly fascinating.”
However, that tale has taken a type of turn as of late. That included recent comments by Sanders where he engaged in discourse on social media between some current and former players.
Thamel doesn’t typically have an issue with coaches speaking their minds, even if for no other reason than it makes them more fascinating. However, this specific instance had a different feel to it and brought about a question that he and others have had about Sanders and the Buffaloes.
“I certainly am never one to say, ‘Oh, a coach shouldn’t speak his mind’ or ‘A coach shouldn’t say that’. I agree with you one hundred percent that we should let coaches be unfiltered and interesting,” said Thamel. “That is what Deion has been.”
“Now, the tenor of some of stuff in the way it has come off hasn’t reflected great on Deion. I think it goes back to a little bit of one of the main topics we talked about a year ago – and I think this was your point that I’m maybe co-opting. Let’s see how Deion handles adversity,” Thamel said. “Like, that was always a question that we had. Okay, you can win signing day and you can have the spring game. You can have all of the pop culture and all the guys on the sideline. But what happens when things don’t go well?”
That adversity should be present right from kickoff based on how Thamel assessed their offseason. Colorado is already coming off of a 4-8 record that ended on a six-game losing streak, even though they were coming off a 1-8 finish in the year prior. They’ll now try to improve on that with a roster that has its issues like the first one did. That’s before even discussing their new surroundings in their return to the Big 12.
“For all of Colorado’s improvement from one win to four wins, they were still a 1-8 conference team last year. They ended the season on a long losing streak,” Thamel noted. “Then they had another complete roster turnover. No matter what they want to say, they lost some good players. Dylan Edwards is a good player. Alton McCaskill had been a really good player – he was the Rookie of the Year in the AAC. They have five new starters on the offensive line. Travis Hunter is going to moonlight at receiver still but they have some huge voids to fill there.”
“I’m very curious to see how this reload goes because their schedule is going to be a lot different,” said Thamel.
There’s no doubting that Sanders and Colorado are going to do it their way and their way only. That’s why, whether positive or negative, all eyes will remain on them throughout the year, whether before, during, or after the season.
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