Joel Klatt confident in Deion Sanders, Colorado competing for College Football Playoff in 2024
FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt said Deion Sanders and Colorado could compete for the College Football Playoff in 2024.
Off the bat, that could sound crazy or biased for the former Buffaloes quarterback. But, Klatt pointed to Sanders’ previous success and what Sanders already did on the recruiting trail.
He broke it down and laid out the path for Colorado to get near or at the top of the Pac-12 and compete for a CFP spot.
“To compete overall in this sport, you better acquire talent and you better do it right now,” Klatt said on his podcast. “Well, they did that both in the high school recruiting class, top 30, and in the transfer portal, top four class in the country, which means now all the sudden they did as well as anybody in the conference. And you start to just (peak) over that railing, just one year. Think about this. Next year, it’s going to be very difficult with all the quarterbacks in the Pac-12. Can they get over the 4.5 that Vegas has set for them as a win-loss? Oh, yeah, probably. I would say over. I think Colorado can and probably will go to a bowl game.
“The standard that they’re setting is incredibly high within the building. It’s not just, you know, social media and recruiting like they’re doing some work in the building. And I think it’s going to pay off in wins. But it’s not what it pays off next year in wins that really interests me. It’s actually the year after.
Colorado has the No. 1 ranked transfer portal recruits, according to the On3 Database. In the Class of 2023 alone, Colorado is No. 30 nationwide.
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Sanders has yet to coach a single down yet.
Can Deion Sanders lead Colorado to College Football Playoff?
“Well, they’re going to get a whole nother year of recruiting,” Klatt said. “And they’re probably going to have numbers that are much higher than what they just did in the last what, two or three weeks? When they were able to pull in the 19th best combined class in the country. I expect that to go up. When that goes up. Now you’ve got more of your players, another round of transfers, they’re going to flip this roster to the tune of 60-65 new players in two years from what they had before Deion Sanders was hired.
“And it’s the year that USC and UCLA leave to go to the Big Ten and it’s the year that the playoff expands and basically you win the Pac-12 and you’re gonna have almost a guaranteed spot in the playoff. You see where I’m headed with this. I fully expect in year two under Deion Sanders at Colorado, that they are competing as a top two or three program in the conference, which means they’re competing for the conference crown, which means they’re competing for a chance to go to the College Football Playoff.”
There is a lot of buzz about the rapid pace of Sanders. A quick turnaround might not be that crazy.
“I think it can go that quick,” Klatt said. “You might think that I’m totally crazy and maybe you think I’m a homer. But when you lay it out like that, and you think of the fact that they’re gonna have 40 new players this year, (it’s not). They’re gonna have 60-65 new players by Year 2 from what they had before Deion Sanders was hired as their head coach, you look the level of player that they’re bringing in guys like Cormani McClain, guys like Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders, a four star quarterback, they’re flipping four-star running backs from Notre Dame.
“Their talent is going to be a top three talent roster in the conference in 2024, which means you should compete for the conference title. And if you’re competing for the conference, you’re competing for a chance to go to the 12-team playoff. I think you can go that quickly. Again, I’ll just put it to you this way. Deion Sanders at Colorado, likely in my opinion, will compete for a playoff spot in Year 2, in 2024.”