Deion Sanders' spring ball draft: Another innovation or trying to reinvent the wheel?

Deion Sanders’ spring ball draft: Another innovation or trying to reinvent the wheel? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Colorado Buffaloes in 2026 have taken on a completely different approach. In almost every way imaginable when compared to previous ‘Prime’ years. After a ‘last supper’ post-game press conference in November, head coach Deion Sanders all but vowed sweeping changes.

Following the 2024 season that saw a total of ten wins, a bowl game appearance, a Heisman Trophy winner, a 4,000-yard passer and a conference leading pass rush, 2025 was objectively a failure. There were positive moments, but the magic from the Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders show had all but faded.

Sanders had an offseason no one should envy. Negative NFL Draft narratives and a historic draft slide seem manageable when compared to the cancer fight Sanders revealed late in the summer of 2025.

Fair or unfair, Sanders was not available for much of the recruiting and practice calendar. His absence during stretches in the offseason calendar were noticeable. Looking back on the season and many of Sanders’ comments, dramatic change should have been expected.

Sanders called for big changes four months ago

Sanders was revealing and brutally honest in his final 2025 post-game press conference. There was a strong sense that Sanders knew what the problem was.

“We won’t be in this situation again, I promise you that,” Sanders said last November. “I’m not happy with nothing. This fanbase, this school, Rick, everybody deserves much better than this. There’s no rut… you’re just not good.”

In that press conference Sanders identified “mentality” as the largest root cause the Buffaloes issues. Short of calling people out by name, something Sanders often refuses to do, he believed the biggest issue was mentality.

“Mentality. Personnel. Coaching. Everything. I see everything being different. Even me,” Sanders told reporters. “You don’t develop mentality, you select mentality. Personnel is mentality. I tell you the truth, but sometimes the truth hurts when I tell it to you. We’ve got to do a better job of coaching.”

New coaches breathe new life

Sanders’ first move was to bring in former Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion in to be the Buffaloes offensive coordinator. Marion has experience with some of the bigger coaching names in college football (Sarkisian, Malzhan, Narduzzi), but most of his career was spent with smaller programs.

Marion is the architect of the “go-go” offense. The system is fast paced, relying on downhill toughness and putting skill players in advantageous positions on the field to maximize big play capability. Marion has described himself as ‘partner in accountability’. An aspect that Sanders did not mention in November but seemed to be an underlying theme.

Sanders surprised many with the hiring of Gainesville Florida high school coach Josh Niblett. High School 5A to Power 4 college football is a jump that caused some speculation. Once Niblett spoke in the Colorado meeting room, his comments went viral.

The program overall is carrying a different tone into 2026. In large part due to the messaging of Marion, Niblett and other new additions to the coaching staff. Sanders promised changes and delivered changes. However, many of those changes fly in the face of what has traditionally worked at this level.

Innovative changes or trying to reinvent the wheel

Something had to give after the 2025 season. Regardless of how they got there, change needed to happen. The question becomes, are these the right changes? College football has created a working model that has lasted decades. Recruiting the best players is the lifeblood of success.

With the addition of NIL and the transfer portal, there is even a higher premium on maximizing top end talent. Yet Colorado finds themselves in what feels like the college equivalent of gentleman’s tank. Facing a more than $20M deficit, Colorado has shed almost all its high-priced talent.

Jordan Seaton, DJ McKinney, Dre’lon Miller, Omarion Miller, Brandon Davis-Swain and many other potential NIL earners and expected foundational pieces have left via the transfer portal. Those players were replaced by incoming transfers, most of whom come from lower-level programs or less than good situations at Power 4 programs.

The plan could work. Or it could be an exercise in college football disproving outside the box approaches. Most fans can count on one hand the number of motivated by the opportunity but lower-level players beating teams loaded with five- and four-star talent.

The 2026 Colorado Buffaloes inaugural Spring Ball Draft

Sanders has tried to create ways to make the Black and Gold Spring Game more than your typical spring game. For the second year in a row, Sanders and Syracuse coach Fran Brown have attempted to schedule a joint practice and corresponding spring game. In both cases the NCAA has denied their request for reasons no spectator accepts as valid.

This season, Sanders has put the Spring Game in the hands of his players. Sanders created two teams not two sides. This year’s spring game will have two full teams playing against each other. Sanders applauded his spring game team captains for their research and preparedness for the draft that took place.

The Spring Game Draft is another innovative idea that Sanders and his coaching staff has implemented. It conceptually seems like an interesting idea. However, it also scratches that part of the brain that wonders if it is what it is being presented as.

If this works, Sanders might have made spring games more impactful for both the players and the fans. If it’s just something different and the regular season results aren’t better, this could become something people point to later. Was it a good idea or just a misdirection while the program resets amidst money problems and poor on-field results.