Colorado football coach Deion Sanders downplays transfer portal departures

At least 14 Colorado football players since early March have announced they are leaving the team to enter the transfer portal. But Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders has a message for anybody who thinks that means his team is suffering in any way because of it.

“We’re good,” he said Thursday. “Quit making a big deal out of nothing.”

He’s seen this movie before. Last year, USA TODAY Sports counted at least 39 Colorado players who announced they were leaving last spring as Sanders engineered an unprecedented overhaul of his roster prior to his first season, including the addition of 47 scholarship transfer players to his team.

This year, there haven't been nearly as many departures. And few of those who are leaving had established themselves as impact players or full-time starters last season, when the Buffaloes finished 4-8.

On Thursday, Sanders wanted to make that clear in his second news conference of the spring practice season.

“I wish you guys would do a little more homework when you start talking about the portal and understand what we’re losing,” Sanders told reporters in Boulder. “What are we losing? I got time today. What are we losing?”

Who did Colorado football lose exactly?

The Buffaloes are losing mostly backup players. Since November, at least 27 players have left the team. One of the recent departures was offensive tackle Savion Washington, who transferred to Colorado last year from Kent State and started nine games last year for the Buffaloes. But Washington was part of an offensive line that gave up the second-most quarterback sacks in the nation last year with 56. He faced new competition with several incoming and transfers.

Also departing Colorado is Cormani McClain, who was the No. 1 cornerback recruit in the nation last year. But he only started four games as a freshman after Sanders criticized his work ethic. One player didn’t even last a full spring in Boulder. Tight end Chamon Metayer joined Colorado from Cincinnati in January but reportedly is transferring again after only about 10 spring practices.

“I trust the recruiting team, I trust our coaches, and please have some faith in me,” said Sanders, whose team finishes spring practice with its annual spring game April 27. “We’re good. We all right. We all right. What happens with the portal man, and you guys need to know: A lot of people are fighting for backups. When a guy’s a starter and he transfers, you’ve got to really think about that. Is he really that? I don’t know how many starters have really transferred around the country. I think we’ve got some coming in for visits, pretty soon, maybe even this weekend.”

Sanders noted his team isn’t losing starter-quality players.

“And if we do, we’re good,” Sanders said.

Shedeur and Shilo Sanders are helping recruit

The transfer portal is more volatile this year because players are no longer limited to just one transfer without penalty, unlike last year. The difference this time is that a recent federal court injunction paved the way for academically eligible players to transfer more than once without penalty.

But the door still swings both ways – going out and in. At least 24 new transfers committed to Colorado or are already enrolled for spring practice.

This spring, the transfer window opened Tuesday and remains open until the end of the month. Sanders is looking for more depth at several positions and is getting help recruiting transfer prospects from his two sons on the team, quarterback Shedeur Sanders and safety Shilo Sanders.

Earlier this week, Shilo Sanders made waves on social media when he posted a message on Instagram that called on transfer prospects to send direct-messages to him and his brother.

“I just want to make it easier for other guys to really just feel like, `All right, if I want to go to Colorado, it’s not hard,'” Shilo Sanders said at the news conference Thursday.

He said he got more than 50 messages that he forwarded to the coaching staff.

“It’s a player-to-player thing,” Shedeur Sanders said. “You don’t want to get in the portal and have nowhere to go.”

What else did Deion Sanders say?

Deion Sanders ripped unfounded internet reports that claimed his sons would only play for six certain NFL teams next year after they turn pro. He previously did say, “It's certain cities that ain’t gonna happen” for his sons in the NFL, but didn’t say which teams he was referencing.

He also didn’t say they only would play for six certain teams.

“I don’t know who reported that I said there were several teams that my kids wasn’t going to,” Sanders said. “Whoever did that is a liar, and that’s stupid, I’d like to track that stuff down and hold people accountable in the media man. Like they should not be able to tweet or text or something when they put something  stupid out like that.”

Deion Sanders also was asked if he was bummed that McClain is leaving.

“I want the best for him, man,” he said. “I really do. I want that kid to soar. I want him to man up. I want him to be the best possible athlete and human being and person he can possibly be…

“Sometimes you need to disconnect from something to reconnect to something else to restart you and re-energize you and stabilize you.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com.