No coach in modern football history has taken on a bigger rebuilding project than Coach Prime (aka Prime Time and/or Deion Sanders) yet he is already writing an impressive script.
And don’t be mislead by his flamboyant monikers because Coach Prime is blessed with great organizational skills and since becoming Head Coach at Jackson State in 2020, he has resoundingly demonstrated those prodigious skills.
Let’s remember, Colorado hired Coach Prime in December with a specific set of goals: rebuild a dysfunctional football program; win a PAC 12 Championship and get invited to the CFP.
How tall is the task?
Colorado posted just one winning season since 2006 and its cumulative W/L record since then is an abysmal 69-134 (34%).
In fact, last season Colorado posted a 1-11 record underscored by some of the worst stats in college football history, scoring just 15 PPG while yielding 45 PPG and its Rush Defense ranked “dead ass last” amongst 130 FBS Schools by yielding an astounding 245 YPG.
In total, Colorado ranked #100 or worse in 29 statistical categories.
By comparison, Mel Tucker’s job at Michigan State was simplistic.
Coach Tucker inherited a team that compiled three (3) Top 5 finishes as recently as 2013, 2014 and 2015, and in 3 seasons immediately preceding MT taking the reins, namely 2017, 18 & 19, the Spartans compiled a record of 24-15 (62%) including 2 Bowl victories.
So, we could comfortably characterize Mel Tucker’s job as a “reboot” while Coach Prime’s job is a foundational “rebuild”.
Of course, given the magnitude of Coach Prime’s task he needs a coherent plan, yet he is prepared. After all, he amassed immense experience turning Jackson State from “loser” into instant “back-to-back” SWAC Champions.
Now, less than 5 months after inheriting Colorado’s dysfunctional program, Coach Prime has already turned Colorado from nationally irrelevant into one of the most fascinating programs in the country, starting with recruiting.
In short order, Coach Prime assembled the #1 recruiting class from the Transfer Portal, while his HS recruiting class is highly regarded in spite of a late start in December.
In fact, resounding recruiting success has created boundless enthusiasm for a heretofore dying program at Colorado.
So, let’s look at Coach Prime’s rebuilding plan commencing with players acquired via the Transfer Portal.
#1 Class from the Transfer Portal:
As noted, since taking the job in December, Coach Prime acquired the #1 recruiting class from the Transfer Portal.
In brief, he assembled a whopping 46 players from the Portal including Ten (10) 4-Star’s and two (2) 5-Stars and the players acquired were game day contributors not castaways.
He gathered players from top echelon programs such as Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Tennessee, Ole’ Miss, Washington and more.
The transfers included 2 players from Alabama, 2 from Florida, 5 from Florida State (his alma mater), and 8 from Jackson State where CP coached just last season. And it’s notable, players acquired from Jackson State included 4-Star Quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, who is, yes indeed, son of Coach Prime.
Of course, CP earned his meal ticket on Defense so it’s no surprise that he acquired 27 Defensive Players via the Portal including 3 Linebackers, 5 Cornerbacks, 6 Safeties and 13 D-Linemen (are you taking notes Coach Tucker?).
And Coach Prime understands Offensive skill players are meaningless without an efficient O-Line, so he acquired seven (7) game ready O-Linemen as well (are you still taking notes Coach Tucker?)
By any measure, Coach Prime acquired 46 “game ready” players via the Transfer Portal and let’s say, Coach Prime went on a shopping trip with a specific shopping list and acquired the ingredients for “instant success”.
Coach Prime also had success on the recruiting trail:
Of course, the heart and soul of college football since its inception more than 100 years ago is High School recruiting and Coach Prime understands its importance and with very little time to recruit after being hired in December, he hit the HS recruiting trail hard.
CP assembled 21 recruits in just 2 months including one (1) 5-Star and three (3) 4-Stars, namely a 5-Star Cornerback, a 4-Star Running Back, and two (2) 4-Star Receivers.
The recruiting class also included 4 O-Linemen and 2 D-Linemen.
Coach Prime resuscitates a dying program:
On April 22, after just 4 months on the job, Coach Prime enticed a near capacity crowd of 47,277 fans to Folsom Field on a dreary, snowy day for Colorado’s Spring Game (still taking notes Coach Tucker?).
The massive crowd was notable because last season the Spring Game attracted less than 2500 fans, so it’s fair to say Coach Prime has created palpable enthusiasm for a dying program that posted just one winning season since 2006.
In fact, Colorado Spring Game attracted one of the largest crowds in the country to one of the smaller stadiums in the country given the fact Folsom Field has a capacity of just 50,183.
As noted, for its Spring Game, Colorado drew an estimated 47,277 partisans while only 10 schools in the country drew more and in ascending order here are 5 starting with Clemson, which drew approximately 50,000…Georgia 54,000…Tennessee 58,000…Alabama 59,000…and Ohio State drew an estimated at 75,000 which was deemed the largest crowd of the Spring.
All the credit goes to Coach Prime for attracting a near capacity crowd for a Spring Game on a cold, dreary day (are you still reading Coach Tucker?)
Coach Prime isn’t tone deaf and he fully understands Spring Games create enthusiasm while 2 hours of Practice Drills as directed by Mel Tucker inspires fans to spend their time elsewhere.
And that is exactly “why” Coach Prime attracted a near capacity crowd on a cold, dreary, snowy day, while Mel Tucker enticed less than 15,000 partisans on a beautiful spring afternoon.
Coach Prime is giving Colorado fans what they want, and we can note, Colorado fans stayed until the clock ticked zero as Colorado Offense beat Colorado Defense 39-27, which is highly notable because last season its Offense averaged just 15 PPG.
At the bottom line (enthusiasm abounds in Boulder):
By way of the Transfer Portal as well as HS recruiting, Coach Prime has acquired 67 new players and essentially rebuilt Colorado’s losing roster overnight.
It would be fair to say Colorado’s new roster is championship ready.
Of course, each FBS school is only allocated 85 scholarship players, which means the majority of the players recruited during Mel Tucker and Karl Dorrell eras since 2019 were kindly asked to ply their trade elsewhere.
Regardless, the massive talent acquisition of 67 new players includes thirteen (13) 4-Stars, and three (3) 5-Stars…which means Coach Prime has acquired as many 4-Stars in 2 months as Mel Tucker acquired in 5 years (which includes MT’s time at Colorado).
Moreover, Mel Tucker has never recruited a 5-Star, while Coach Prime has already recruited 3.
The “proof will be in the pudding” of course and we will see in the fall if Coach Prime is successful developing individual players into a cohesive, finely-tuned football machine, but given the extraordinary turnaround he enacted at Jackson State, and given his incredible impact in the Transfer Portal as well as his positive impact on the recruiting trail, it would be a fair bet that University of Colorado is about to regain its status as a National Title contender which has not been seen since Bill McCartney championship era some 30 years ago.
And how about Mel Tucker?
Well, his plan is flagging!
There are Mel Tucker faithful (a dwindling number I might add) who believe MT will mount a Championship turnaround, but to that group I ask…how and when?
Mel Tucker has been a Head Football Coach for 4 years and compiled 3 losing seasons, so how long should Spartan fans be asked to wait for a championship contender?
If a championship turnaround doesn’t occur in the next two seasons, then Spartan Football will arguably become an irrevocable reclamation project (see Bobby Williams and John L. Smith), in fact it may already be there. I want to be fair, but the numbers don’t lie, and Mel Tucker’s W/L record is woeful and fading fast:
- 3-6 vs PAC 12 opponents while competing at Colorado.
- 12-13 vs Big Ten opponents while competing at Michigan State
- 7-10 vs Big Ten East opponents since arriving at Michigan State
- 1-5 vs Big Ten East opponents last season
Let’s summarize: Mel Tucker beat just one Big Ten East opponent last season and that was Rutgers which the Spartans narrowly beat 27-21 at Spartan Stadium in spite of yielding 224 Yards Rushing at more than 5.0 Yards per attempt. Beating last place Rutgers is not a badge of honor.
And it reminds us that Championships wait for no one…they must be earned…and I haven’t heard a single football analyst suggest Mel Tucker is on the cusp of winning a Championship or on the cusp of a championship turnaround.
After all, since December, Coach Tucker lost starting QB (Payton Thorne), and two 4-Star Receivers, including WR (Keon Coleman), and 4-Star WR, (Germie Bernard) all of whom opted for the Transfer Portal instead of “waiting for Mel’s turnaround”.
Then, this week MT lost Jamari Howard, a 4-Star CB from his 2024 Recruiting Class.
And if Spartan faithful are betting on the future, then they should know the 2024 Recruiting Class is ranked a dreadful #63 in the land (and fading fast). In fact, the 2024 recruiting class touts just 3 recruits which is an unmitigated embarrassment given Michigan touts 17 recruits and is currently ranked #1 in the land.
In fact, the Spartans 2024 recruiting class is the worst recruiting ranking the Spartans have earned since its recruiting class finished #68 in 2003 which was the transition year from Bobby Williams to John L. Smith some 20 years ago (just curious, are you still reading Mel?).
Mel Tucker is no longer considered a $95 Mn savior but considered by many analyst to be a coaching liability and by any measure, Spartan fans deserve better.
Maybe its time for MT to study Coach Prime’s script.
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Dayne Thomas
Will2Win
