Deion Sanders’ sneakiest 2024 transfer portal move
Deion Sanders and Colorado’s players once again saw plenty of movement in the transfer portal in the first period following the regular season. The portal opened on December 4th and Buffalo didn’t have to worry about a postseason bowl game, so they could just focus on sifting through the portal to prevent this from happening in 2024.
The Colorado Football Club closed its first transfer window ranked 5th in the transfer portal rankings according to 247Sports. The top 50 ranks produce the most translations (24 commits), but also have 13 outgoing translations.
As soon as Sanders and the Buffaloes arrived in Boulder, Colorado, they not only shook up the established order of college football but also made a splash. This is in part because Sanders used the transfer portal to reorganize his entire roster. Buffalo’s 2023 results were a decidedly different group. But good results alone are not enough.
In his first season, Sanders took Colorado football from 1-11 in 2022 to 4-8 in 2023. It might not seem like much, but given how bad the Colorado football program was before Sanders arrived, four wins would be a huge improvement. So while there has been success, it won’t live up to Sanders’ standards in 2024.
One of the improvements Sanders and his staff needed to focus on was the offensive line. True, both lines were weak points, but the one area that most definitely needed improvement was protecting his talented quarterback and son, Sheder Sanders.
Finding a worthy striker in the transfer portal isn’t easy. This has led many to doubt whether even Sanders could perform any magic in this realm through the portal. But Sanders, as usual, seemed to prove his doubters wrong, and he had 5-of-2 tackles and three interior linemen sacks. Of these five, former Texas Longhorn and Houston Cougar Tyler Johnson may be the best.
Tyler Johnson commits to Colorado football
Tyler Johnson is set to transfer to Boulder as a four-star transfer, rated the No. 114 overall transfer in the country and the No. 3 interior offensive lineman by 247Sports. He is a former four-star prospect who ranked No. 87 in the nation, No. 9 offensive tackle and No. 13 in the state of Texas in the 2019 class.
In his final season, Johnson was known as the highest ranked player. The first round against San Francisco featured left tackle Trent Williams. In two years in Houston, Johnson posted pass-blocking grades of 87.6 and 77.2, allowing just two sacks, one QB hit and 12 hurries in 23 games, per PFF. He has experience playing both left and right full-back.
Johnson should be an automatic upgrade to the Buffalo football team’s offensive line and would be a big welcome addition to Shheader Sanders, who has 52 sacks, the most in the country. The fact that Sanders was able to put up such an impressive performance and secure one of the few best offensive linemen around makes him one of the smartest and best in his class.
