Joel Klatt reacts to Colorado's recent transfer portal moves
Deion Sanders doesn’t mess around. In nearly a week, Colorado has added four offensive lineman in the transfer portal while securing a commitment from the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2024 cycle, Jordan Seaton. On Monday, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt evaluated Colorado’s recent wave of success.
“It’s just been a really good week for Colorado,” Klatt said. “I know they’re a four-win team and there’s a sector of college football fans that just immediately don’t want to hear about this, but if they get better in the right spot, they’re going to be competitive moving to a conference in which they’ll have an easier schedule than they did a year ago. If they protect Shedeur — they’re going to be a really good team.”
Deion Sanders wasn’t hesitant to discuss Colorado’s need to improve its offensive line this season. In fairness, the evidence was in plain sight. The Buffaloes allowed 56 sacks this season, the second-most in the country.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders suffered the consequences. In Colorado’s Week 12 loss against Washington State, Shedeur fractured his back. Deion wasn’t willing to watch his son suffer the same fate next season.
Colorado builds new offensive line
Thus, he attack the transfer portal. Of the commitments, the headliner is UTEP left guard Justin Mayers, On3’s No. 3 overall interior linemen in the portal. The other commits include Indiana right tackle Kahlil Benson, Houston guard Tyler Johnson and UCONN center Yakiri Walker.
Johnson is no slouch, either. The 6-foot-5, 325-pound lineman began his collegiate career at Texas, but spent the last two years with the Cougars. He played over 700 snaps in 11 games at Houston this year. Klatt believes Colorado’s success in the portal could propel the Buffaloes forward.
“They had a chance to get to a bowl game this last year,” Klatt said. “They had three or four games that they were in and any play, here or there, could have gone the other way. Stanford comes to mind. Arizona was a close game. There’s two wins right there.
“That’s a bowl team. They’re close to that point. Any improvement outside of that, now you’re talking about eight, nine, maybe even 10 wins. Maybe you can compete for the conference title this first year in the new look Big 12.”
In 2024, the Big 12 will consists of 16 teams, including Pac-12 arrivals such as Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.