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The coach who "ain't hard 2 find" is uncharacteristically quiet.

January 2nd the rubber meets the road for Coach Prime's Colorado offseason plan originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Coming off a bad 2025 season, Coach Deion Sanders all but promised sweeping changes and aggressive player acquisition the last time he addressed the media. As of Wednesday December 31^st, the Colorado Buffaloes have 25 players entering the transfer portal.

While 25 is not the largest number in the power 4, it does put Colorado on the top tier of teams losing the most players. According to 247Sports on December 27^th, there are ten programs that have lost 20 players or more to the portal. That list of ten includes the Colorado Buffaloes.

Along with Colorado, other notable teams that made the top tier are Florida, Auburn and Iowa State. Three teams that all replaced their head coach. The concern for Colorado is they did not lose their head coach. If anything, their head coach vowed significant changes and refusal to repeat the 2025 results.

If all is well in Boulder and the Buffaloes staff is about to implement a well-thought-out player acquisition plan, they are the only ones that know that. While that might sound very straight forward and not alarming, it's quite the opposite coming from the program with the largest social media following in the nation.

Covert operation or something to worry about

For two of the three years of Coach Sanders’ tenure at Colorado they have been wildly consistent in leaving breadcrumbs. Nothing specific, but vague posts that clearly indicate this message is about recruiting. Social media posts suggesting today will be a good day, we’re working on having a big signing day, and of course most of the “We comin” and "We ain't hard 2 find" messages almost all referencing recruiting news on some level.

Today is a GOOD DAY for the BUFFS @CUBuffsFootball pic.twitter.com/bAywQxBqPG
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) January 20, 2023

Yet the most popular head coach in college football (1.8M followers on Twitter, 5.5M on Instagram, and while Well Off Media is technically Bucky’s creation, the channel showcases Coach Sanders and his program, 637K followers) has gone quiet. Almost radio silent if not for his routine inspirational quotes of the day and other positive comments that are unrelated to recruiting. Coming from a coach that previously always sounded like he was recruiting, no matter the venue, comes off as odd.

Deion's always recruiting 😂 @DeionSanders

📺: #NFLHonors on NBC pic.twitter.com/XMzRnvMe6B
— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2023

Taking a deep dive into the coach’s twitter, there has been a dramatic shift and most of it tracks back to at least his “last supper” press conference following the Kansas State loss. There are four primary areas he hits consistently and often none of them seem related to the future of the Buffaloes.

Hate

Hate is an interesting concept when viewed through the lens of Deion Sanders. Never in the history of organized sport has one figure taken a word and its intended usage and evolved that term to mean something else. As well as use its negative connotation to his advantage. Hate is a harsh word. Prime has taken that word, with the help of social media, a cultural de-evolution in meaning and an ever-changing America and parlayed that into something else entirely.

Hate describes horrible things like racism, bigotry, and sexism. Yet the Buffs head coach seems to think it means anyone who doesn’t immediately buy into whatever he’s selling. A peculiar perspective to have. Especially in a sports world that certainly taught Sanders, nothing is given and everything is earned. An idea he also preaches to his players. Irrational negativity in sports can be real but claiming everyone outside the dedicated fans of Prime are haters is excessive. In the last eight days, the word “hate” or “hatred” appears in eight different Sanders tweets.

Well Wishes

Well wishes would seem to make up the second most frequently posted concept since the final Buffs regular season game. Say what you want about Coach Sanders and how he operates, but he’s never been short on gratitude for the ones that give what he asks for. Whether that player leaves by way of the transfer portal, NFL draft, or leaving to enter the non-football workforce.

Amari McNeill, who has come a long way since 2023, got a “Love ya man and I believe in you” message. “You are a good young man!” for CU legacy standout Arden Walker. On December 23^rd, “Praying for u my man” to Browns rookie running back Quinshon Judkins after his successful fibula surgery. As well as a few posts thanking existing Buffs for staying as in the case Tight End Zach Atkins and Punter Damon Greaves, most recently.

Motivational Statements

This is the largest section of his social media tendencies. Almost daily, Sanders posts some sort of vague but inspirational comments aimed at whoever it may help. “Merry Christmas & God Bless u all”. “Lets pray for one another instead of condemning one another”. “How u deal with the 1 consistency u have in your life”. These are usually pleasant and have no reason to draw anything objectionable about them. If even one of these posts helps even one person, Sanders would likely say posting them is worth it.

Thank you Lord

This is where the social media trail might have some hidden CU Buffaloes business attached. They are vague enough that a concrete connection to anything is difficult at best. In almost all these posts, there is no extrapolation. “Thank You Lord” or a similar variation. They rarely include much more than praise in a vacuum. Discerning these requires a little calendar math.

Sunday Dec 7^th – “Lord Thank You!”

Saturday Dec 13^th – “Lord Thank You”

Sunday Dec 14^th – “Thank You Jesus”

Sunday Dec 21^st – “Let’s go Lord! Thank u JESUS in advance”

Friday Dec 26^th – “Lord I Thank You!”

Sunday Dec 28^th – “Lord Thank You for the Vision, the Patience & the Mentality”

While most of these are vague or cryptic enough to not deduce much from them, some can be summarily discarded from the conversation of Buffaloes business. Of the six shown, four of them occur on a Sunday. While they could be church inspired, it seems more logical that these might be Shedeur Sanders starting for the Cleveland Browns related tweets. However, there are a few that should give Buffs fans some glimmer of optimism, but only if they are paid off on January 2^nd or shortly thereafter.

Tuesday Dec 2^nd – “Thank You!”

Wednesday Dec 10^th – “Lord JESUS! Wow”

Tuesday Dec 23^rd – “I can’t wait until! This is exciting, exhilarating & expected! Yes Lawd & thank You Jesus"

Reversing a forgettable 2025 starts with the Transfer Portal

The transfer portal window opens in two days. Sanders had previously acknowledged that there will be a shift in their usual 40-40-20 recruiting model. At present, Colorado has 14 signed players and/or signed letters of intent from incoming freshmen. Two of which are the kids of a current CU football coach, Domata Peko.

While the coach did not specify how the model will change, 14 incoming freshman and a current recruiting class outside the top 50 (62^nd according to 247Sports), the logical conclusion is they must have bigger eyes on the transfer portal than viewers might have predicted. The only other aspect of the three-fold model would be to impact the grad transfers aspect of the model. Which can come later in the process.

As for the mass exodus without a ‘Louis Luggage’ speech, the program would likely claim this is all part of the process. An expected outcome. In this final “last supper” press conference, Prime was asked does it just come down to personnel? He did not go into detail, but he did in some way confirm that he believes the biggest aspect does come down to personnel. He didn’t name names, but seemed to indicate that big, potentially surprising changes were coming. Not just with players, but coaches as well.

Even with that on record, losing names like Omarion Miller, Dre’lon Miller, Tawfiq Byard, Alexander McPherson, Carde Smith, and Tyler Brown were going to raise eyebrows. Especially if the head coach is silent regarding the loss of players believed to be cornerstone pieces for 2026.

All of this leads into one irrefutable concept. January 2^nd is the line in the sand. It’s high noon. It’s zero barrier. It is the point of no return. If Sanders and his staff are aggressive on Friday and confirmed reports start coming in regarding transfer portal targets Sanders is signing, then this could prove to be strategic in nature, and no one had anything to worry about. Then Coach Prime was handling the business of the Buffaloes even if he’s being uncharacteristically quiet about it. If they are quiet and not active in the portal after the portal opens, it could introduce real, tangible concern and fear for the future of the Buffaloes.

Coach Sanders had arguably the most difficult February through June anyone could have predicted in 2025. Coming off a 10-4 season, a bowl game, and a Heisman Trophy winner, the new year began with questions about his players’ NFL stock. That included watching his son Shedeur face the biggest draft slide in NFL Draft history. While that was happening, Sanders was fighting bladder cancer.

For the majority of the recruiting cycle, Sanders was busy dealing with matters more important than football. All while he would’ve otherwise been recruiting. A concept he didn’t come out and confirm but did hint at in his final post-game press conference of the season.

Sanders' "Last Supper" commentary promising changes

In that press conference after the Kansas State game, Sanders very bluntly gave honest answers to some important questions. He was even more revealing that he typically tries to be. This felt like 'fed up and ready to make changes' Prime. This was 'no delusions about where he thinks things are' Prime. In the following attached video, Sanders makes several claims of changes coming. The only issue is, a month later there has been no indication of what those changes might be, short of a couple coordinator and position coach hirings.

Coach Prime's "Last Supper" Comments Promise Changes https://t.co/jbctGELiLC via @YouTube
— AFR_Jones (@AfrFiction86890) January 1, 2026

In two days, the transfer portal will open for fourteen days. In that span of two weeks the Buffaloes recruiting staff will have to be aggressive and specific with who they decide to sign. The largest takeaway being, if they are aggressive there is much less to be concerned about. If they are not aggressive in the transfer portal, a lot of voices will sound like Chicken Little proclaiming the sky is falling on Boulder.