Coach Prime's Buffs Begin Prep For Valero Alamo Bowl
December 17, 2024 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes are in full prep mode for their Dec. 28 Valero Alamo Bowl date with BYU — but that's not the only thing on the minds of Coach Prime and his staff.
No doubt the matchup with the Cougars is a top priority. The game is an opportunity for the 20th-ranked Buffs (9-3) to not only hit the 10-win mark for the first time since 2016, but to do it against the No. 17 team in the nation.
"Consistent team that can run the ball, they can throw the ball, they defend well, disciplined," was Coach Prime's assessment of 10-2 BYU at his Tuesday press conference. "I see a lot of discipline. A lot of young men that may not receive some of the accolades that they deserve, but they work their butts off and they do a wonderful job. So trust me, nobody is taking them lightly. They're not sneaking up on us. We know what they're coming with."
But along with getting the Buffs ready for their bowl appearance, Coach Prime and his staff are deep into the process of recruiting the transfer portal. CU has already received some commitments from players in the portal and expects to have more over the coming days.
"We have some wonderful, phenomenal young men up here that we want to join this magnificent team," Coach Prime said. "I think we've secured commitments from durn near everybody. I know they're going to help us in tremendous positions. The quality of the young men we're getting is phenomenal."
In his two years in Boulder, Coach Prime has made the transfer portal a key building block of the program. The only difference between this year and past seasons is that college football observers are no longer questioning his methods after the two-year turnaround he has produced in Boulder.
"The transfer portal should be no surprise to you," he said. "You know you're probably going to lose two guys you didn't expect, and you probably going to gain several guys you didn't expect, but you got to have a board. You got to do your study. You got to understand this is what's going to happen, and I'm prepared for that. I know this is going to happen, so I don't think the portal has ever been a surprise to us, not at all, even the bowl game."
Meanwhile, returning players are looking forward to using the Alamo Bowl as a springboard to next season while those players wrapping up their careers are hoping to add one more positive performance to impress NFL scouts."
"We have a multitude of young men that have desires to go pro," Coach Prime said. "This is last call for them. We have a bunch of young men that want to establish themselves and beat out some of these guys that they know we're attaining in the portal, and they want to put their footprint down going into the spring that, 'Hey, man, this is my job. I should at least start first team.' So it's very important, and we keep it important. It's not just a bowl game. We want to go there and play Buff football."
Coach Prime also continued to reiterate that his stars — most notably Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and Johnny Unitas Award winner Shedeur Sanders — will play in the game. The trend in recent years has been for players who are expected to go high in the NFL Draft to skip bowl games, but that's not the case at Colorado.
"We got some guys that want to end on a great note," he said. "You think Travis wants to go out there and get locked down? You think Shedeur wants to go out there and play hot garbage when he's one of the premier guys that is arguably the first pick of the draft? We got a lot of guys that want to ball out, and I can't wait to see them."
