How Colorado transfer strategy could help in 2024, beyond at key positions

To the surprise of very few, the Colorado Buffaloes have been very active in the Transfer Portal under head coach Deion Sanders . It’s the second offseason in a row that Colorado has been active like this in the portal and comes ahead of a vital 2024 season.

Colorado has, to this point, added 32 players this offseason, including several players along both the offensive and defensive lines. It’s those key positions where the Buffaloes could see their strategy of using transfers help this season and beyond.

While making an appearance on Andy Staples On3, Pete Nakos broke down what he’s seen from Colorado.

“The last two weekends for Colorado, this last weekend was the spring game,” Pete Nakos said . “They’ve done a really good job getting guys out to Boulder and I know…they don’t do in-home visits, but obviously something’s going right when they get them on the campus in Boulder for the official visits out there with Deion.”

*Follow all Colorado Buffaloes news on Facebook here*

“I really like the additions to the offensive and defensive line. You added Payton Kirkland last weekend. You added Rayyan Buell . You added a handful of guys who I think could actually help Colorado on both lines.”

Offensive line was a major issue for Colorado in 2023. The Buffaloes gave up 4.67 sacks per game , which was 132nd in the country. On top of that, the team was 133rd, last in FBS, in rushing yards per game with 68.92. Similarly, the defensive line struggled and that seems to be something they’ve addressed before an important season.

“The Big 12 is gonna be good this year, so it’s going to be interesting to see how everything’s handled, and when you think about Shedeur Sanders this past year, you think about all the sacks he had to [take],” Nakos said. “I know he could be a round one draft talent in 2025, but it’s hard not to think about that Colorado 2023 season and think about all the sacks.”

At that point, Andy Staples explained that what makes him nervous is that it doesn’t always seem like there’s a long-term plan for Deion Sanders and Colorado. However, at offensive line recruiting transfers with plenty of eligibility could help.

“My skepticism about Deion and the recruiting plan is it doesn’t seem like they’re planning much for the future, but you look at Zechariah Owens and then you mentioned Payton Kirkland from Texas , those are offensive linemen with multiple years of eligibility. Zechariah Owens has four years of eligibility. He redshirted at Clemson last year. So, perhaps that’s the plan and there is a future plan going on to build an offensive line, to build the defensive line, but that’s where my skepticism lies,” Staples said.

“But I can live with this if you’re going to bring in highly recruited offensive linemen who maybe didn’t work out at their first school or just wanted a change of scenery, and you have them for three or four years, that more resembles a plan than we were seeing before.”

Several of Colorado’s big-name players are moving on following the 2024 season. That’s a lot of people’s focus right now. However, there needs to be a plan for the roster after those players move on.

“And they have Jordan Seaton too, who’s also a freshman. So, those are three guys who have a lot of eligibility. We’re all kind of gearing up for this year,” Nakos said. “The last year of Travis Hunter , Shedeur, Shilo [Sanders] , like should be very interesting to see how it plays out. My bigger question is okay, what does this look like at Colorado after this season?”

The post How Colorado transfer strategy could help in 2024, beyond at key positions appeared first on On3 .