After the Colorado Buffaloes finished 3-9 in his third season as head coach in 2025, Deion 'Coach Prime' Sanders admitted he made a significant mistake at the quarterback position. It made him rethink his approach to the game ahead of the 2026 season.

At the Big 12 Conference Football Media Days in Frisco, the Colorado head coach acknowledged that replacing his son, Shedeur Sanders, proved to be more challenging than he had imagined.

"I made a big mistake, man," Sanders told ESPN, per Buffaloes Wire reporter Charlie Strella on July 9. "You've got to understand it. I've coached my son my entire life. So everything was like, compared to that. It's hard to get."

Sanders explained that years of coaching Shedeur had shaped how he evaluated other QBs. He acknowledged he did not fully appreciate the value of the signal-calling position until last year.

"That's why they [quarterbacks] make the most money in the NFL and college NILs as well," Deion Sanders said via ESPN, per Charlie Strella of Buffaloes Wire." But I never had that thought process until a season ago."

After Shedeur Sanders departed for the NFL, the Buffaloes faced instability and inconsistency at the QB position. In 2025, the team's 3-9 overall record and 1-8 conference record in the Big 12, placing last in the standings.

Colorado cycled through three different QBs as starters each week in 2025: redshirt freshman Julian "JuJu" Lewis, backup Ryan Staub, and transfer Kaidon Salter. This left the offense directionless and struggling to find a balanced rhythm.

But Coach Prime seems to have learned from his mistakes. He made significant changes this offseason and replaced Pat Shurmur with Brennan Marion as the offensive coordinator to implement his high-tempo "Go-Go" offensive system.

"I think the Go-Go gives you a lot of opportunities to score points," Lewis said on July 9, per Buffaloes Wire. "He [Marion] call the quarterbacks the point guards. Our job is to facilitate and get our athletes the ball and don't turn it over."

Coach Prime is expected to commit to a single starter soon. Currently, Lewis is projected as the starting QB with transfer Issac Wilson as backup heading into the 2026 season.

National preseason rankings deliver reality check for Colorado Buffaloes

American Sportswriter and analyst Phil Steele ranked Colorado at No. 62 in his full 1-to-138 college football preseason rankings.

James Carnes of Sports Illustrated believes that the ranking reflects the Buffaloes' 2025 performance, which ranked near the bottom of the Big 12 in offense (No. 104) and ranked last in defense (No. 136).

"That slot tells the story of where the Buffaloes stand nationally after a 3-9 season in 2025, when injuries and quarterback inconsistency kept the team from matching the momentum they found in 2024," James Carnes of Sports Illustrated wrote in his July 9 article.

Carnes believes that the Buffaloes have plenty to prove to be part of the Big 12, considering their coaching staff overhaul and roster changes made during the offseason.

Do you think the Colorado Buffaloes can redeem themselves after Deion Sanders' offseason changes? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit