Deion Sanders just isn’t carried out reshaping the Colorado Buffaloes. In keeping with Sanders himself, throughout Large 12 media days, the group is eyeing veteran expertise to assist coach his younger however gifted roster.
“Our teaching workers, that is with out Byron Leftwich, which I’m praying that he does the appropriate factor, and Mike Zimmer, we’ve got 160 years of NFL expertise,” Sanders mentioned. “With these two added, that’s 204 years of NFL expertise. And I would like these years.”
Leftwich served because the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator between 2019 and 2022, together with throughout their 2020 Tremendous Bowl run. Along with his teaching profession, Leftwich was additionally a former first-round NFL quarterback, along with his enjoying profession spanning from 2003 to 2012.
Zimmer was the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator in 2024 and is not any stranger to Sanders. The 2 labored collectively throughout Coach Prime’s tenure at Jackson State, the place Zimmer was an analyst. Then, in 2023, he adopted Sanders to Colorado and once more served as an analyst for Colorado. Zimmer is remembered for his tenure because the Vikings’ head coach from 2014 to 2021. If employed by Sanders, he would deliver a wealth of defensive expertise and data to a group seeking to take the following step.
Whereas Colorado and Sanders haven’t formally confirmed any of those hires, the thrill surrounding these strikes has gained important momentum in current days. Reviews counsel that Colorado needs to enhance their workers with NFL expertise, and including Leftwich and Zimmer would just do that.
With Colorado coming off its most profitable season lately, the timing of those strikes makes a variety of sense. Colorado has a number of recent starters attributable to quarterback Shedeur Sanders, cornerback/extensive receiver Travis Hunter and others being drafted to the NFL or graduating, and with new faces getting into the constructing, having leaders with years of expertise will make this transition seamless.
This strategy of hiring skilled coaches displays Deion’s broader imaginative and prescient for this system. From the start, Sanders has emphasised making ready his gamers for the NFL.
Bringing in Leftwich, a former first-round choose and Tremendous Bowl-winning coach, alongside Zimmer, a long-tenured coach within the NFL, would instantly enhance the usual in Boulder.
If these hires come to fruition, the Buffaloes would have probably the most NFL-experienced staffs in all of faculty soccer.
