After Losing Cormani McClain & Dylan Edwards, Colorado’s Asst. HC Sets the Record Straight on CU’s Recruiting Strategy

The Colorado Buffaloes had a tumultuous start to their 2024 season when they witnessed a mass exodus of players who decided to enter the transfer portal. With big names like Dylan Edwards and Cormani McClain, among many others departing, it raised many eyebrows over the team’s credibility. As such, it resulted in Deion learning an important lesson and implementing a drastic change in how they recruit players.

As of May 1, 2024, 61% of the 72 players from the 2023 class had announced their exit from Coach Prime’s team. It was evident that the team needed a fresh perspective on how to draw in talents that would scale the team’s overall performance, and as per Gary Harrell, the Buffs have figured it out.

Gary Harrell reveals Coach Prime’s new recruitment tactic

On the 22nd May episode of the On3 Recruits YouTube channel, Gary Harrell joined the show to discuss all things related to the Colorado Buffaloes and some of Deion Sanders’ new policies regarding the transfer portal. Later, he was heard talking about how the team regretted chasing after 4 or 5-star recruits, which insinuated the unfortunate exits of players like Cormani McClain and Dylan Edwards.

Gary Harrell, known more often as “Coach Flea,” revealed the important strategy Deion told the team to bring new players to the squad. He was asked about Colorado’s recruiting strategy and responded, “We kind of changed, I’ll be honest. Before, when we made the flip, we was going to get guys because of the school where they coming from, from the Alabama or Florida State, chasing those four and five stars and we made some mistakes.”

Harrell added, “A lot of guys that we got on campus, we realized they weren’t the guys that we needed and in one meeting. Coach Prime, he was like, ‘All right, stop chasing the four or five stars. Find the guys that love the game. Find the guys that have aspirations for us going to the next level. Find those guys and let’s coach them.”

Thus, it is evident that Coach Prime and the team seem to have learned their lesson in trying to sign flashy players and will now focus solely on the players’ passion for football rather than just their numbers and records. Moreover, Deion is also implementing a new change in his recruiting policies by inferring the conventional way of the in-person recruiting visits, rather than his own unique approach.

Deion Sanders is curbing his ways of recruitment

Earlier this year, Coach Prime revealed how he was opting for his own way of recruitment by letting the parents see his environment and setting rather than visiting their homes himself. Though it definitely did make the fans scratch their heads, it wasn’t exactly a shock that Deion chose to take the road less traveled. Now, it seems he’s abiding by the age-old method of visiting the recruit’s homes after the team witnessed a large-scale exit from players.

In his tweet from May 13, Deion posted a picture of himself in his private plane and captioned it, “We Coming.” The fans seem to believe the notion that Deion will follow the common practice of visiting the recruits’ homes individually just like the other coaches in the league, as he tries to choose the orthodox way of bringing players from the team since his own methods haven’t been hitting the bullseye lately.