Former Auburn Tigers linebacker Chandler Wooten pointed out the obvious about Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes during their Black and Gold spring football game at Folsom Field on Saturday: Coach Prime's team is small.
While watching a video of former Auburn recruiting target, quarterback Julian Lewis, leading his team onto the field in Boulder, Wooten quipped, "Colorado tiny man." The six-foot signal-caller had one of the biggest presences.
The Buffs have rarely won trench battles, with Jordan Seaton being the only notable linemen to commit to Colorado out of high school since Sanders took over. Of course, Sanders' strategy is to hit the transfer portal hard outside of a handful of high school commits, Lewis included.
Clearly, that strategy didn't work out for the 2026 roster, which has the least amount of impact blue-chips, on paper, of any team Coach Prime has had. Worse yet, Sanders may have his least physical group, and his teams haven't been known for defensive dominance or smash-mouth run games to begin with.
Deion Sanders doesn't specialize in what it takes to win in the SEC
Of course, the 2022 hiring cycle saw Coach Prime as a candidate for the Tigers' head coaching job that ended up going to Hugh Freeze. Looking back, it's a big positive that Coach Prime didn't end up doing that.
Like Freeze, Sanders would've been battered in the trenches, making life harder for the top skill-position groups he brought on. It would've been a similar level of losing, with a slight chance that Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter could've replicated their great 2024 seasons.
If Coach Prime can't recruit a big enough squad to compete in the Big 12, which Colorado didn't in 2025 and looks hard-pressed to be able to in 2026, it's unlikely Auburn's resources would have gone to enough elite trench talents to make the Tigers a winner in the SEC had he chosen East Central Alabama over the Centennial State, had, of course, the offer even been on the table.