Getty Image / Sean M. Haffey
The Hype Train that followed Colorado’s Deion Sanders into town has officially left the station after Coach Prime’s team sputtered off a 5-game losing streak to miss out on bowl eligibility. The Buffs have only been bowl eligible 3 times in the past 17 seasons.
Coach Prime has proven himself to be a masterful recruiter after luring the former #1 recruit in the nation, Travis Hunter, away from Deion’s alma mater FSU at the 11th hour. But Colorado’s struggles, which Deion called the “toughest stretch of probably (his) life” have led to a little trouble on the recruiting trail after 3-star offensive lineman recruit Talan Chandler from Missouri decommitted from Colorado.
Flash forward a few days, and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is diminishing the role of NIL in College Football recruiting once again. He’s previously ranted about how he wants players focused on the NFL and not NIL. Now, Coach Prime is saying Colorado “is not an ATM.” Speaking about NIL on Tuesday, Deion Sanders said (via TheAthletic):
“We’re not an ATM. That’s not gonna happen here. 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.”
“All the business stuff will be handled on the backend. But we are not an ATM. 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?”
Coach Sanders made sure to claim that things are going well on the recruiting front. He went on to say:
“We want players that want us. Trying to convince somebody and doing that, being held hostage financially, we ain’t with that. We’re not going to buy anybody whatsoever. 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. 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.”
Currently, the Colorado Buffaloes have the #54 ranked 2024 recruiting class in the nation with 0 5-star recruits, 0 4-stars, and 8 3-stars according to On3 who also lists the average NIL valuation of Buffalo football players as $40K.
That average NIL valuation is drastically tiny compared to the top recruiting classes in the nation right now. #1 Georgia’s average NIL is $143K, #2 Ohio State’s is $145K, and #3 FSU’s is $120K. Only Oregon, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M have top-10 recruiting classes with NIL valuations below $100K but even their average NIL valuations are close to 2x that of Colorado.
Deion is telling recruits that ‘Colorado is not an ATM’ and they should listen. Likewise, recruits should know their worth.