By Scott Salomon
Coach Prime has put the college football world on notice that Colorado will not burn a lot of NIL money bringing in top recruits to Boulder, as the Coach announced at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
“We’re not an ATM. That’s not going to happen here,” Sanders announced. “If you come to Colorado to play football for me and the Colorado Buffaloes, it’s because you really want to play football and receive a wonderful education, and all the business stuff will be handled on the back end if that’s the case. But we are not an ATM.
Prime said that recruits will only earn a lot of money if they work hard, earn their degree, and make the NFL. Really, this is coming from the same guy who said he was bringing his Louis Vuitton luggage with him from Jackson State and lured players from the transfer portal like the NIL was going out of style.
“You’re not coming here to get rich unless you’re really coming here with a plan to go to the NFL and get your degree….not to come here and be Moneybagg Yo. That’s a rapper, right?”
Colorado stars Shedeur Sanders, Shilo Sanders, and Travis Hunter have all parlayed their on-the-field success to lucrative NIL endorsements. Coach Prime even said after one of the games that they have to find Shedeur a watch deal. However, money will have to be earned once you get to Colorado and have success, not promised to a recruit for merely signing his name on the dotted line of a National Letter of Intent.
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“We’re not going to buy anybody whatsoever,” Prime said. “That’s how we approach it. We have tremendous needs. I’m pretty sure everybody in the country knows what we need and how much we need. That’s not a secret, and recruits are responding.”
Sanders took over at Colorado last spring and proceeded to gut the roster. According to a statistic brought to my attention, of the 64 players who were not invited back and were jettisoned to the Transfer Portal, 34 of them are on a team with a better record than the Buffs right now. There are also 29 of them either playing at an inferior school or out of the game completely. One of those players elected to play college basketball at his new school instead.
Coach Prime is looking for players who are ready to make a commitment to him and the University of Colorado.
“We want players who want us,” Sanders said. “Trying to convince somebody and doing that and being held hostage financially….we ain’t with that. We want players who want to be a Colorado Buffalo.”
Deion Sanders won’t lure recruits to Colorado with money: ‘We’re not an ATM’ https://t.co/TzccnMEwDF pic.twitter.com/4RZONqulq0
— New York Post (@nypost) November 22, 2023
Colorado closes out its season against Utah on Saturday, as it is short of the six-win qualification to earn a bowl game bid.
Notwithstanding his stance on chasing players with a closed checkbook and no bags of fat dough, Prime said that the school will get its share of recruits who know how to play the game at a high level.
“Trust me, there’s not a day that goes by that kids aren’t blowing our recruiting staff up. They’re calling, and we’re responding,” Sanders said optimistically. “Last year, you had to fill a void of everything. This year, you’ve seen what we have and what we don’t have,” Sanders said. “… We know what we want, and we’re gonna go get it. I promise you that.”
It should be noted that Colorado only has nine recruits committed to play in Boulder for the 2024 recruiting cycle, according to Yahoo Sports.
