Colorado coach Deion Sanders doesn’t appear to be bothered by Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi’s criticism of Sanders’ roster management earlier this spring.
“He’s not mad at me, he’s using me to take a shot at another coach that he has a problem with,” Sanders told 247Sports. “I don’t know who he is; If he walked in here now, I wouldn’t recognize him.”
More than 40 Colorado players have left the program after the Buffaloes spring game and 51 grantees have entered the transfer portal since Sanders took office on Dec. 3. A total of around 70 players entered the portal. Sanders and his staff took advantage of a recent NCAA rule change for first-year coaches to legally disqualify the vast majority of players who entered the portal after spring.
Former Colorado offense player Travis Gray, who was released this spring, shared how the conversation with Buffs offense coach Bill O’Boyle went after the spring game.
“‘Hey buddy, you’re going to be circumcised today. I’m sorry to have to tell you this. I didn’t want you to find out from Coach Prime. I wanted you to hear it out of my mouth. “I didn’t mean to cut you, but we had to cut five offensive linemen, and you were last,” Gray recounted as O’Boyle said. Gray, whose father played for the Colorado national team in 1990, signed to New Mexico in May.
Players are allowed to keep their scholarship if they choose to reside in Colorado, but are not allowed to participate in football activities. Your scholarship will then not count towards the 85-person limit. Colorado athletic director Rick George told ESPN this spring that Colorado is recognizing full scholarships for four players who are not participating in football activities but plan to remain in Colorado.
Narduzzi objected to the practice in an interview with 247Sports at the ACC spring meetings last month.
“It shouldn’t be like that,” said Narduzzi. “It’s not what the rule said. It wasn’t about overhauling your roster. We’ll see how it goes, but I think it’s looking bad for college football coaches across the country. Right now the reflection is on one man, but when you look at it as a whole – these kids who have mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and goals in life – I don’t know how many of the 70 who left are actually leaving wanted or they got their ass kicked to get out.”
Narduzzi was also a vocal critic of USC coach Lincoln Riley. Narduzzi accused Riely of manipulating 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison, who joined the Trojans last May and caught 59 passes for 875 yards and eight touchdowns before being picked 23rd in this year’s NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings the overall rating was chosen.
“What was his situation like when he came to Pitt? He was in a different situation than me. “He’s not mad at me, he’s mad at the situation in football that allowed his best player to leave a year ago,” Sanders said.
More Colorado-Pitt Fireworks Coming?
Don’t expect this feud – if you can call it that – to come to a head on the recruiting tour or on the field anytime soon. Narduzzi and Sanders are not recruiting many, if any, of the same players from different sides of the country, and the ACC and Pac-12 programs have no plans to face each other on the field in the future.
They would have to meet in a bowl game, and Las Vegas bookmakers have set the over/under for Colorado’s win total this season at 3.5. Maybe next year, unless Colorado finds a glass slipper in the Flatirons.
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(Photo: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)