University of Colorado Athletics
A Transformative Brotherhood Built in Colorado Springs
August 09, 2026 | Football
COLORADO SPRINGS — Nobody loved it at first.
"I'll be completely honest, at first we were a little timid about it," running back DeKalon Taylor said. "We were like, dang, we're away from home, we're in dorms again."
By Tuesday, the phones were gone and the dominoes were out at night, the team bonding began.
Colorado spent the opening week of fall camp here rather than in Boulder, practicing at Fountain-Fort Carson High School and staying on campus at system partner University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. It was the first time the program has taken camp on the road. The setup was deliberate and it was restrictive: no visitors, no outside food, no phones during the day. Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders wanted distance, and he wanted it to be far enough that nobody could talk themselves into a drive home.
"We wanted to go somewhere that was significant, not just around the corner," Coach Prime said. "We wanted to get away so they can't have the urge to drive back home. They're off the phones. We monitor that, and they're really getting to know each other and really getting a bond."
What that looked like from the inside, according to Taylor, was a week that stopped resembling the rest of the year.
"After day one, we began to grow closer. We started putting the phones down," Taylor said. "I promise you, after 7 a.m., no one has a phone on. Phones are in the room. I don't have my phone here with me at all. We just talk to each other. We're laughing, we're joking all day, and it feels surreal. It's like a true getaway. We don't have to worry about the outside noise. Last night, we were up until about 10 playing dominoes and Uno."
For a roster with as much turnover as this one, the math on that is straightforward. Defensive back Cree Thomas said the constant proximity is the point.
"It builds community amongst the team," Thomas said. "It builds trust. We're with each other 24/7 the entire day. We're sleeping right across from one another, so it really builds that team bond. Then the next piece, it really gives us a chance to lock in and focus."
Linebacker Gideon ESPN Lampron, in his first camp with the Buffs, framed the timing as its own advantage — students are returning to Boulder this week, and the team is not there for it.
"Not a lot of teams are fortunate enough to do this, and it's been great for team building," Lampron said. "Being able to be isolated with your team down here really does build a sense of community. Coming into camp and all the way out here is a shared struggle, which is the biggest way to get closer to your teammates."
Defensive coordinator Chris Marve has been on the other side of this before, as a player and earlier in his coaching career, and said the value is in what gets subtracted.
"You get the opportunity to narrow the focus," Marve said. "These young men, all of us in this world, we get a lot of things that pull at our attention, a lot of distractions that we can choose to allow to be input or to allow not to be. When you are here, and when you are physically isolated in a way from an outside community, focused on a particular mission, it feels different. We're living with each other for a week. We're having conversations that we may not have had right after practice or between practice and a walk-through.
"I had this experience when I played, and it was transformative for me, so I hope it's the same for our players," Marve continued. "I did it earlier in my coaching career, as well, and it had a similar effect to what I think it'll have on our guys."
Coach Prime's own frame of reference is a professional one, and it holds up.
"I didn't have a lot of training camps because of this game called baseball," Coach Prime said. "But we bonded, we had a good time. It's hot, extremely hot, with the Cowboys in Texas. But it was a bond that you can't replace by anything, because you're just there thinking football, football, football, waking up together, going to sleep in the same locations. It's a beautiful thing."
The week's centerpiece was not a practice. On Wednesday, the Buffs visited the Air Force Academy, and it left a mark on everyone who was asked about it.
"Man, that blew my darn mind," Coach Prime said. "First of all, how beautiful it is, and who had the insight and the foresight to do all that? The coaching staff welcomed us with open arms. They talked about the intricate details of attending Air Force and what they must go through to get in. Our kids talked about our disciplines, and they talked about their disciplines, and we ain't like them. They are unbelievable."
Sixth-year defensive back Ben Finneseth came away with the specifics.
"They were telling me they're in survival camp for five days and they get three meals spread out throughout those five days," Finneseth said. "And then as soon as they get back, they start fall camp. So they lose 15 pounds barely eating out in the middle of the woods, and then they come back and start camp. That's a real grind, so hats off to those guys."
Tight end Zach Atkins put it more simply: "Those guys are so disciplined in everything that they do. It's definitely something that I will never forget personally."
The visit fit a theme that ran through the week from the top of the department as well. On the debut episode of The Lovo Lens, athletic director Fernando Lovo cast the trip as something CU owed the state rather than a scheduling choice.
"We're the flagship institution of this state. It says Colorado across our chest," Lovo said. "I think we have an obligation to get out and around and into these communities across this state, because we are the biggest show in town when it comes to college sports. For us to be here, and we went to the Air Force Academy — that matters. It matters so much. It's beyond just football.
"When Coach Prime and his great staff talked to me about this when I first got here, I was fired up," Lovo continued. "To see it come together, obviously to be able to come down to Colorado Springs and our great partners here at Fountain-Fort Carson and UCCS, this is awesome. That's what it's all about, where the brotherhood is built, and I think it's going to pay dividends this season."
Coach Prime spent a portion of his availability making sure the hosts were named: Fountain-Fort Carson superintendent Dr. Keith Owen, the chancellor at UCCS, Dr. Jennifer Sobanet and her staff, and Colorado Springs mayor Yemi Mobolade.
"I'm thankful that the city has opened its arms, and the campus that we're standing on, it's great," he said.
Not everything about the week was a comfort upgrade, and nobody pretended otherwise. Wide receiver DeAndre Moore, back on the field after an injury, admitted the trade-off.
"Going away from campus, it was a little tough, I'm not going to lie. I love my own bed, man. It's a king-size bed," Moore said. "But it was definitely an adjustment, and sometimes you've just got to get back to the basics. Having different circumstances humbles you, so I'm definitely glad that I'm here."
Finneseth also put some of the discomfort into perspective.
"There's no AC, it's hot in the dorms, so it's an adjustment," Finneseth said. "But having to go through something like that together, it makes it enjoyable and brings us closer together. I'm really glad the coaching staff had us do that. It feels like youth camp when we were growing up."
As for what Coach Prime will remember, it may not be a practice either.
"A lot of deer here. A lot of deer," he said. "I went on my morning walk as usual and came within like 10 yards of this deer. We made eye contact, and I said, 'You got it, dog. It's you. It's your world. I don't know nothing. I'm gone.' I turned around and got up out of there."
"I'll be completely honest, at first we were a little timid about it," running back DeKalon Taylor said. "We were like, dang, we're away from home, we're in dorms again."
By Tuesday, the phones were gone and the dominoes were out at night, the team bonding began.
Colorado spent the opening week of fall camp here rather than in Boulder, practicing at Fountain-Fort Carson High School and staying on campus at system partner University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. It was the first time the program has taken camp on the road. The setup was deliberate and it was restrictive: no visitors, no outside food, no phones during the day. Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders wanted distance, and he wanted it to be far enough that nobody could talk themselves into a drive home.
"We wanted to go somewhere that was significant, not just around the corner," Coach Prime said. "We wanted to get away so they can't have the urge to drive back home. They're off the phones. We monitor that, and they're really getting to know each other and really getting a bond."
What that looked like from the inside, according to Taylor, was a week that stopped resembling the rest of the year.
"After day one, we began to grow closer. We started putting the phones down," Taylor said. "I promise you, after 7 a.m., no one has a phone on. Phones are in the room. I don't have my phone here with me at all. We just talk to each other. We're laughing, we're joking all day, and it feels surreal. It's like a true getaway. We don't have to worry about the outside noise. Last night, we were up until about 10 playing dominoes and Uno."
For a roster with as much turnover as this one, the math on that is straightforward. Defensive back Cree Thomas said the constant proximity is the point.
"It builds community amongst the team," Thomas said. "It builds trust. We're with each other 24/7 the entire day. We're sleeping right across from one another, so it really builds that team bond. Then the next piece, it really gives us a chance to lock in and focus."
Linebacker Gideon ESPN Lampron, in his first camp with the Buffs, framed the timing as its own advantage — students are returning to Boulder this week, and the team is not there for it.
"Not a lot of teams are fortunate enough to do this, and it's been great for team building," Lampron said. "Being able to be isolated with your team down here really does build a sense of community. Coming into camp and all the way out here is a shared struggle, which is the biggest way to get closer to your teammates."
Defensive coordinator Chris Marve has been on the other side of this before, as a player and earlier in his coaching career, and said the value is in what gets subtracted.
"You get the opportunity to narrow the focus," Marve said. "These young men, all of us in this world, we get a lot of things that pull at our attention, a lot of distractions that we can choose to allow to be input or to allow not to be. When you are here, and when you are physically isolated in a way from an outside community, focused on a particular mission, it feels different. We're living with each other for a week. We're having conversations that we may not have had right after practice or between practice and a walk-through.
"I had this experience when I played, and it was transformative for me, so I hope it's the same for our players," Marve continued. "I did it earlier in my coaching career, as well, and it had a similar effect to what I think it'll have on our guys."
Coach Prime's own frame of reference is a professional one, and it holds up.
"I didn't have a lot of training camps because of this game called baseball," Coach Prime said. "But we bonded, we had a good time. It's hot, extremely hot, with the Cowboys in Texas. But it was a bond that you can't replace by anything, because you're just there thinking football, football, football, waking up together, going to sleep in the same locations. It's a beautiful thing."
The week's centerpiece was not a practice. On Wednesday, the Buffs visited the Air Force Academy, and it left a mark on everyone who was asked about it.
"Man, that blew my darn mind," Coach Prime said. "First of all, how beautiful it is, and who had the insight and the foresight to do all that? The coaching staff welcomed us with open arms. They talked about the intricate details of attending Air Force and what they must go through to get in. Our kids talked about our disciplines, and they talked about their disciplines, and we ain't like them. They are unbelievable."
Sixth-year defensive back Ben Finneseth came away with the specifics.
"They were telling me they're in survival camp for five days and they get three meals spread out throughout those five days," Finneseth said. "And then as soon as they get back, they start fall camp. So they lose 15 pounds barely eating out in the middle of the woods, and then they come back and start camp. That's a real grind, so hats off to those guys."
Tight end Zach Atkins put it more simply: "Those guys are so disciplined in everything that they do. It's definitely something that I will never forget personally."
The visit fit a theme that ran through the week from the top of the department as well. On the debut episode of The Lovo Lens, athletic director Fernando Lovo cast the trip as something CU owed the state rather than a scheduling choice.
"We're the flagship institution of this state. It says Colorado across our chest," Lovo said. "I think we have an obligation to get out and around and into these communities across this state, because we are the biggest show in town when it comes to college sports. For us to be here, and we went to the Air Force Academy — that matters. It matters so much. It's beyond just football.
"When Coach Prime and his great staff talked to me about this when I first got here, I was fired up," Lovo continued. "To see it come together, obviously to be able to come down to Colorado Springs and our great partners here at Fountain-Fort Carson and UCCS, this is awesome. That's what it's all about, where the brotherhood is built, and I think it's going to pay dividends this season."
Coach Prime spent a portion of his availability making sure the hosts were named: Fountain-Fort Carson superintendent Dr. Keith Owen, the chancellor at UCCS, Dr. Jennifer Sobanet and her staff, and Colorado Springs mayor Yemi Mobolade.
"I'm thankful that the city has opened its arms, and the campus that we're standing on, it's great," he said.
Not everything about the week was a comfort upgrade, and nobody pretended otherwise. Wide receiver DeAndre Moore, back on the field after an injury, admitted the trade-off.
"Going away from campus, it was a little tough, I'm not going to lie. I love my own bed, man. It's a king-size bed," Moore said. "But it was definitely an adjustment, and sometimes you've just got to get back to the basics. Having different circumstances humbles you, so I'm definitely glad that I'm here."
Finneseth also put some of the discomfort into perspective.
"There's no AC, it's hot in the dorms, so it's an adjustment," Finneseth said. "But having to go through something like that together, it makes it enjoyable and brings us closer together. I'm really glad the coaching staff had us do that. It feels like youth camp when we were growing up."
As for what Coach Prime will remember, it may not be a practice either.
"A lot of deer here. A lot of deer," he said. "I went on my morning walk as usual and came within like 10 yards of this deer. We made eye contact, and I said, 'You got it, dog. It's you. It's your world. I don't know nothing. I'm gone.' I turned around and got up out of there."
Players Mentioned
TE
/ Football
S
/ Football
LB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DB
/ FootballThursday, August 06
Thursday, August 06
Thursday, August 06
Monday, June 22