Colorado is giving new meaning to the term "rebuild" in college football.
In an approximately five-month span after the Buffaloes hired coach Deion Sanders away from Jackson State on Dec. 3, 2022, a staggering 52 Colorado players entered the transfer portal. The Associated Press called the mass exodus “unprecedented in [the] portal era.”
The course of events in Boulder has ruffled the feathers of more than a few throughout college football, including Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi. Narduzzi, who won the ACC title with the Panthers in 2021 only to watch All-American receiver Jordan Addison leave for USC, blasted Sanders for misusing the system in an interview with 247Sports.
“That’s not the way it’s meant to be,” Narduzzi said. “That’s not what the [transfer portal] rule intended to be. It was not to overhaul your roster. We’ll see how it works out but that, to me, looks bad on college football coaches across the country.”
Shortly after his hiring, Sanders was filmed telling holdovers from the Buffaloes’ 1–11 ’22 team, “I’m bringing my own luggage with me,” explicitly encouraging them to enter the portal.
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“I grew up in a profession that you can’t tell a guy that he has to leave based on athletic ability,” Narduzzi said. “When I got to Pitt back in 2015, I didn’t kick anybody off. Zero. Those are your guys. When you become a head coach you inherit that team and you coach that team. If someone wants to leave, that’s great. You don’t kick them out.”
For better or for worse, a completely different Colorado team will take the field when the Buffaloes open their season at TCU on Sept. 2.
