Even before taking over as head coach at Colorado, Deion Sanders had proven himself to be among the nation’s top recruiters. However, it’s recently been revealed that Sanders is somewhat unconventional in his approach to selling his program to prospects.
In records obtained and shared by USA TODAY, it’s been unearthed that Sanders has never once conducted an in-home visit. In fact, he’s never even had the leave campus grounds.
“Coach Prime did not conduct any off-campus recruiting visits,” Colorado said in a February e-mail to USA TODAY.
Sanders’ approach certainly breaks with college tradition and is especially odd considering Colorado has allocated a $200,000 annually to private air travel for recruiting purposes.
“The football staff have not used this service for recruiting since Coach Prime started his term as coach,” the school said.
All of this begs the question: Why?
Some speculate that Sanders’ leg and foot issues are the reason he avoids off-campus visits but that seems unlikely. If Sanders felt compelled to travel for a prospect, he undoubtedly would — there’s no stopping Prime.
The more likely reason for Sanders to remain on campus is the mere fact that he doesn’t have to leave. The allure of playing for an NFL legend is good enough for some. He has also focused very heavily on players in the transfer portal and has never been shy about about using NIL opportunities to his advantage.
If the time comes when Sanders feels it necessarily to visit a prospect, he will. But if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. And right now, Sanders’ approach is not broken.
