Fear not Boulder, Colorado, Deion Sanders is right here to save Colorado soccer. All he wanted when he stepped off a personal jet was his personal silk cape to accompany his messiah complicated. If the extremes and excesses of the NIL period have been molded into human kind, it might be the person referred to as Coach Prime.
On Sunday, Sanders peacocked his manner into the Colorado observe facility and made a weird first impression. He immediately proclaimed his son the starting quarterback earlier than he’d formally entered the transfer portal and made positive to promote himself because the savior of Colorado soccer. There wasn’t a lot speak of constructing Colorado’s players up. He made positive to word that any student-athletes he doesn’t deem worthy are welcome to go away. He dehumanized and insulted his staff filled with FBS student-athletes he’s been tasked with main by informing them that he’s received his personal guys from a decrease subdivision of soccer prepared to take their spots so they may as effectively hop into the portal ASAP.
“We got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my luggage with me… And it’s Louis [Vuitton],” Sanders stated to an auditorium of returning Colorado players.
It’s essentially the most egotistical we’ve seen him but. There’s no I in staff, however there may be one in Deion and two in Primetime. The objective of the transfer portal was to give student-athletes a second likelihood at one other program, not a doorway for brand spanking new coaches to shove players out the emergency exits en masse. College soccer is an enormous enterprise, but it surely’s by no means been extra cutthroat than this. We’ve seen coaches make the most of Twitter to attraction to recruits, however they’ve by no means gone full Elon Musk on their players in full view.
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After assuming management of Twitter, Musk considered himself as a hammer who noticed nails everywhere in the rattling place. He shortly started firing builders and mocked them in tweets, then backtracked on massive plans after he received out entrance of his personal skis. The cult of Musk is precisely what Sanders has going for him, however with out the social (media) awkwardness.
Sanders will undoubtedly present a sugar excessive to Colorado that they haven’t skilled in many years. The expectations are low at Colorado after a 20-year by which they’ve received simply 89 video games. At this level, bowl eligibility could be deemed a productive season. Colorado is Prime Academy 3.0. The authentic Prime Academy is defunct thanks partly to Sanders’ incompetence, however whereas it was open, the varsity served as a car for his soccer aspirations.
According to On3’s Josh Newberg, a torrent of NIL alternatives can be flooding into the University of Colorado. He shortly secured a dedication from 5-star IMG Academy vast receiver Winston Watkins Jr. First he has to make it to 2025 simply to get Watkins on campus.
Those are small victories, however one or two 5-star recruits received’t change Colorado’s fortunes within the Pac-12. It will take a number of recruiting courses and a training philosophy that can provide them a marginal benefit over the Pac-12’s center class.
After a 13-0 season at Jackson State, Sanders is flying excessive, however so was Icarus. Sanders’ recruiting benefit at Jackson State can be nullified within the Pac-12. CB Travis Hunter received’t be sufficient to single-handedly carry Colorado’s secondary and Shiloh Sanders wasn’t a full-time starter at South Carolina earlier in his profession.
Former 4-star prep quarterback Shedeur Sanders would be the beginning quarterback in 2023, however the hole between him and his SWAC friends has been erased. Against SWAC competitors, Deion tried to throw him into the Heisman dialogue. In 2023, Shedeur can be measured in opposition to extra achieved starters like Washington State’s Cameron Ward, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., and USC’s Caleb Williams. The No. 2 quarterback in Shedeur’s prep class in 2021 can be a backup for the Huskies. The No. 7 quarterback in 247 Sports’ Composite Rankings, Ty Thompson, misplaced his beginning job at Oregon to Auburn transfer Bo Nix.
Colorado wants an grownup in cost as a lot because it wants wins. The Elon Musk bravado labored in a convention that cares extra about halftime exhibits than soccer, however we’ve seen how his overconfidence and alienation technique has decimated his private wealth in addition to that of Twitter and Tesla. Sanders will make the most of the transfer portal and his distinctive connections to appeal to NIL cash, celebrities and make highschool athletes conscious that the University of Colorado exists. He’s already created a brand new vitality across the program, however his precise teaching acumen and skill to construct a D-I employees can be examined.
Deion Sanders’ Colorado soccer stint will both be his crowning achievement or a real-life parable for Icarus flying too shut to the solar.
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