Report: Colorado's Nick Williams Leaving Deion Sanders' Staff; 3rd Coach to Exit

Colorado defensive ends coach Nick Williams is reportedly leaving the team for a coaching opportunity elsewhere, according to Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams of The Athletic.

He's the third coach to leave Deion Sanders' staff since the team's season ended, with tight ends coach Tim Brewster resigning and offensive coordinator Sean Lewis taking over as the head coach at San Diego State.

It's been a tumultuous early offseason for Coach Prime's Buffaloes.

The program has seen five recruits between the Class of 2024 and 2025 decommit already and four players—left tackle Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan, center Van Wells, linebacker Marvin Ham II and tight end Caleb Fauria—have announced their intention to enter the transfer portal.

Colorado was the most viral story in sports after a 3-0 start to the season, but reality set in quickly and the Buffs finished the season 4-7, losing six straight to close the campaign.

Sanders, who hit the transfer portal hard and added 69 scholarship athletes to the 2023 roster after his hiring last offseason, has remained publicly confident that Colorado would again improve via the portal.

"You gonna be pleased with what's coming; I promise you that," he told reporters after the team's 23-17 loss against Utah in November. "But everything that you see that we have a lack thereof, a deficit, we're gonna fill that need."

That will apparently include the coaching staff. Williams reportedly had a big impact as a recruiter for the Buffs, making him a tough loss for a program that ranks just 65th in 247Sports' Composite Rankings for the Class of 2024.

Colorado has not traditionally been a powerhouse and competing in a loaded Pac-12 this season was never going to be easy, so Sanders always had his work cut out for him rebuilding the Buffaloes. He turned Colorado into one of the hottest tickets in college football in September, but now some of the realties of the job are setting in.

How Sanders responds this offseason and beyond, as Colorado heads to the new-look Big 12, will determine whether he can actually turn around the Buffaloes.