Sports

Deion Sanders Refuses To Cancel Spring Game Despite Rivals Tampering With Colorado Roster

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Colorado football coach Deion Sanders on the field.

© Troy Taormina-Imagn Images


Spring practice is in full swing as college football programs kickstart the offseason. This will be many fans’ first looks at their teams as they begin to build expectations around the upcoming campaign.

Colorado coach Deion Sanders spoke on his group’s outlook ahead of 2025. He’s looking for yet another way to bring exposure to the Buffaloes.

Many around the nation are beginning to put less of an emphasis on the annual spring game. In past seasons, it’s been a way to showcase the program’s progress in the early stages of practice. It gives viewers an opportunity to see new players live, watch past players’ growth, and identify how voids will be filled following attrition from the year before.

Now, programs are cancelling the game altogether. Coaches cite potential tampering in the transfer portal as reasoning. They no longer want to highlight roster members. They’d rather hide them until the regular season. Injuries are also a concern.

Those concerns are valid to an extent. In Deion Sanders’ first season, he lost receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig to the portal hours after a 154-yard performance in the spring game. He bolted after being showcased by the staff and eventually landed at conference rival Arizona.

Despite the history of having rivals tamper with his roster, Coach Prime refuses to take the approach of cancelling the spring game. In fact, he’s trying to build it up even further.

The head coach suggested an NFL-style fix to the dying event which he believes would be popular amongst fans.

Sanders is all about bringing a spotlight to his school. He’s been successful in doing so each of his first two seasons on campus.

Last year, he made his spring game event a weekend-long spectacle. It included music, a fashion show, and an alumni afterparty. That came a year after selling out his initial spring game in 2023.

If he could have it his way this year, he’d build the hype even more by playing against another team in an NFL training camp style setup.

Deion Sanders isn’t running from the spring game. He’s embracing it. Coach Prime continues to look for ways to bring exposure to his program in Boulder. A spring game sellout would certainly achieve that.