Deion Sanders and Colorado need to do work in the spring transfer portal.
If you’re Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders, you’ve seen the good and the bad effects of the transfer portal. Sanders’ squad, like every other in the country, hasn’t been immune to player exits. In fact, they’ve seen nothing short of a mass exodus during the current spring window that includes their highest-ranked recruit from last season, cornerback Cormani McClain.
Currently, the Buffaloes football team has 21 outgoing transfers. Outside of McClain, who actually received little playing time, some of the more notable players to be exiting Boulder are offensive lineman Savion Washington, defensive linemen Chazz Wallace and Devee Harris, and safety Myles Slusher, all of whom had meaningful playing time during the 2023 season.
Sanders is obviously no stranger to the transfer portal. It is, after all, what caused him the most scrutiny when he arrived in Boulder, when he more or less told most of the team he inherited to pack their bags. That’s because Coach Prime hit the portal like no one else has to date, bringing in over 50 transfers in what was one of the biggest overhauls of a collegiate team since the inception of the transfer portal.
Now, however, Sanders, who seems to be going as far as leaning on his own kids to help recruit transfers, is seeing the adverse effects of the transfer portal, albeit in the spring window when typically there isn’t as much monumental movement. Even before the window opened, the Buffaloes still had some glaring needs, which have now just increased. With that said, here’s the player that Colorado football should target in the college football spring window of the transfer portal.
Jason Zandamela, Interior Offensive Lineman, USC
If you watched Colorado football at all last season, especially as they went on, you know how bad their offensive line play was. It was so bad that starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders was eventually injured and missed playing time. Coach Prime certainly doesn’t want to continue putting his son in harm’s way, which means he’s going to need to continue to improve the unit.
Sanders and staff made some additions to the offensive line in the winter edition of the transfer portal, but this part of the team can be overemphasized in the need for more talent. USC’s Jason Zandamela is a standout and one of the top-rated players in the transfer portal currently.
He’s a former No. 1 ranked interior offensive lineman in the country and No. 9 ranked player in Florida. He ranks as the No. 7 overall transfer. If he were to join the Buffaloes, he would be a true freshman and have all four years of eligibility left. He’s already been contacted by Colorado among 10 other schools, per On3’s Hayes Fawcett.
TreVonte’ Citizen, Running Back, Miami
The Colorado football roster took another blow on Wednesday night when running back Alton McCaskill entered the transfer portal, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, leaving a rather void room at the position. Now, only Micah Welch and Sy’veon Wilkerson remain behind Dylan Edwards, who is said to be playing more receiver this season, per the Coloradoan.
Being a Florida native, it wouldn’t be surprising for Sanders to look at former Miami running back TreVonte’ Citizen, who is from Lakeland, Florida. Citizen was a consensus highly-rated four-star coming out of high school. A lower extremity injury has cost Citizen his playing time, however. But if healthy, he could be a steal in the spring edition of the portal.
Rayyan Buell, Defensive Lineman, Ohio
The offensive line is not the only line needing to add some talent, as the defensive line for the Buffaloes wasn’t much to brag about either. The defense allowed 176.4 yards rushing per game last season while averaging just 2.3 sacks. Moving to a more high-powered offensive conference in the Big 12, that won’t cut it.
Although there were some notable upgrades made in the winter portal with Samuel Okunola from Pitt, Quency Wiggins from LSU, and BJ Green from Arizona State, the Buffs still need some bodies to rotate overall talent at the position.
Rayyan Buell is one of the highest-ranked defensive linemen in the portal currently at four-star and the No. 18 ranked defensive lineman, per 247Sports. In just two years at Ohio, he’s had a fairly successful collegiate career. Last season he posted 12.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 30 total tackles in 13 games played, while earning third-team All-Mac honors.
