Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Hall Of Famer Westbrook Confident Coach Prime Will Make CU Elite Again
December 13, 2022 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Former Colorado star and College Football Hall of Famer Michael Westbrook has been waiting literally for decades for something like this to happen to his Buffaloes.
The wait is over.
"I've been holding my breath for 20 years," Westbrook said earlier this week. "I finally took a big, deep breath a week ago. Colorado is coming back."
Westbrook remembers when playing for conference titles and contending for national championships were the norm in Boulder. A four-year starter for the Buffaloes (1991-94), Westbrook was an integral piece of one of the most successful stretches in CU history and a member of some of the most talented teams ever in program annals.
(He was also part of arguably the most-famous play in the Colorado record books, the 64-yard Hail Mary "Miracle in Michigan" in 1994.)
Those days, however, are long gone. CU has produced just one winning record in the last 16 full seasons.
But now, with Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders at the helm, Westbrook firmly believes the Buffs can once again compete at that elite level.
"I've always had a mystical understanding of how things should work," Westbrook said. "Football has always been simple for me. I look at a defense, I look at an offense and I know how it should be structured. I know how it should be built.
"But Deion's brain has to be like a double door or some kind of Harry Potter wizard. His brain is on 'easy mode.' What is calculus or quantitative physics for some people is simple addition for him. He knows what he's doing and he is going to build a winning program."
During his eight-year NFL career, Westbrook played against Sanders for seven seasons and with him for one (2000 in Washington).
"Playing on the other side of the ball from him was a joy," Westbrook said. "He made everything look simple but it was because he invested everything he had in the game. I can't imagine he will do anything different at Colorado."
Westbrook played in an era at Colorado when Bill McCartney had assembled an astounding amount of talent. In his 1994 senior season, Westbrook played alongside a Heisman Trophy winner (Rashaan Salaam), a Thorpe Award winner (Chris Hudson) and at least 20 teammates who would go on to enjoy NFL careers.
The 1995 NFL Draft alone produced 10 selections from CU, including two in the first round (Westbrook and Salaam) and three in the second.
"Those teams had so much depth, it was amazing," Westbrook said. "Our second and third strings could have won nine or 10 games those years with the talent we had. There was not a weakness anywhere on the field with those teams."
Westbrook is convinced Sanders will quickly be able to recruit at the same level. "People want to play for him," Westbrook said. "They know who he is, what he's done and what he will do for them."
But Westbrook believes perhaps the biggest challenge for Sanders will be keeping that talent on campus over the span of several years.
"If there had been a transfer portal when we were at Colorado, I think it might have been different," Westbrook said. "A lot of those guys who were backups and had to wait a year or two to play might not have waited. Some of those guys would have wanted to play right away and might have gone into the portal."
But Westbrook also acknowledges that everyone is playing by the same rules today — and the transfer portal door swings both ways. The bottom line is he is confident that Sanders will build a winner and do it quickly in Boulder.
"Personally, I'm hoping for seven, eight wins his first year," Westbrook said. "The conference is going to be tough. There are a lot of ranked teams in there and they will have to beat some of them."
But Westbrook also believes it's only a matter of time before the Buffs are once again among the nation's elite.
"I think we will get back to the point where we are in contention and playing for national titles," he said. "That could happen sooner than people think. I think they will be capable in his second or third year … but then, if you know Deion, he might do something crazy in his first year and have them that good right away. That's who he is."
