Report: Colorado Football Players Felt Deion Sanders' Roster Purge Was 'Impersonal'

The Colorado Buffaloes underwent a massive roster overhaul after the arrival of new head coach Deion Sanders, but the players involved reportedly don't hold any ill will for how the process played out.

According to ESPN's Kyle Bonagura, Adam Rittenberg and Andrea Adelson, only 10 scholarship players remain from Colorado's 2022 team. Of the 86 newcomers this season, 53 of them are transfers, the most a college football team has ever had in a single offseason.

However, the players who were replaced reportedly understand that it's simply the new nature of college football:

"It was harsh, like an NFL cutdown day, except for players who mostly arrived in Boulder under the assumption they had a home until they exhausted their eligibility. Their scholarships would have been honored if they wanted to remain at CU as students, but the whole process came across as impersonal, multiple players told ESPN."

Sanders made it clear from the moment he was hired by Colorado that he was going to take full advantage of college football's new transfer rules that allow players to join a new team without having to sit out for a season. It was understood that changes were needed after the Buffaloes went 1-11 last season, but an overhaul of this magnitude remains unprecedented.

"Some people, they don't plan on transferring the whole time that they're in college," said cornerback Jason Oliver, who transferred from Colorado to Sacramento State after the spring game. "The fact you can get cut like that, it kind of sucks, but that's what college football is nowadays. It's just a business, so you've got to start to understand it."

Colorado will begin its new era under Sanders with its 2023 season opener on Saturday against No. 17 TCU.