It seems things are changing for the better in Boulder! All thanks to Deion Sanders and his dedication to flip the script. Till now, Coach Prime has been in hot water for being overly upbeat about sons Shedeur and Shilo Sanders and the Buffs’ dual threat, Travis Hunter. But that’s not true anymore since the CU preseason fall camp looks promising. Even the Buffs confidant Brian Howell feels so, as he revealed on the BuffStampedeDotCom podcast. But what helped them this time? Of course, the army of returning players. Besides, the first preseason practice came up with three exciting takeaways. 

Before the 2024 season, Deion’s Colorado hit a roadblock of fading enthusiasm from the analysts. All thanks to the 4-8 narrative in 2023 that left the Big 12 Media poll results that predicted that the Buffs would finish 11th. The primary reason was allegations brought against Coach Prime to channel his energy only toward Shedeur, Shilo, and Hunter. But not anymore, as Deion has whipped up a whole new strategy. In conversation with Adam Munsterteiger, Howell highlighted how the coach is playing it big with the player’s roster: “I think there’s a lot of value in that and a lot it’s are core players…Shedeur and Shilo, Travis and Hank Zilinskas and Camden Dempsey, Trevor Woods — guys like that there’s a lot of guys that are back from last year. I think it helps in that regard.”

Fourth-year Colorado football defender Woods switched roles from safety to linebacker last season. But at his new position, too, he has been equally good as he had tallied 26 total tackles and 0.5 TFLs. In the fall camp, Dempsey, also known as “The Governor,” was all pumped up, “We’re only in spiders today; these aren’t even real pads. It looked like a practice three, four weeks into the season.” Hence, the long snapper will leave no stones unturned in bringing the Big 12 title home. Here are some key takeaways from the first preseason practice.  

Deion sets the stage for immediate success

First things first, Colorado’s running back room is going to make some noise this season. Charlie Offerdahl is the lone returner at the RB position. But the Buffs RB coach Gary Garrell holds high expectations about him, and the former walk-on-turned-scholarship-player will be performing the role of “the starter at this point.” Offerdahl will join the other two transfers, EB Dallan Hayden and Isaiah Augustave. After having the worst rushing attack in the Pac-12, Deion’s Buffs will have depth this year. 

Second, Deion has not been shy in holding Trevor on a high pedestal. The defender is hailed to be the next Brian Urlacher as he tallied a career-high 12 tackles against UCLA. The player is all set to live up to the Buffs HC’s dreams as he assured, “The next day he (Sanders) came up to me and said, ‘I gave you the spotlight. Do something with it.’ I’m grateful for it and I just have to run with it.”

And now, for the grand finale, Deion and company will shake down every odd to flip the 2023 script. As Harrell confirmed, “His (Sanders’) expectation is now. We’re not waiting for Year 3 to win. We’re not waiting until midseason for everything to click. It has to happen now.” Let’s wait for the Big Day, August 29!