Paul Finebaum reveals why he doesn't believe Deion Sanders has a high ceiling in Year 1 at Colorado

One of the biggest storylines heading into the next college football season is how will Deion Sanders do in his first season at the helm as Colorado‘s new head coach. Sanders enters the job following a storied collegiate and NFL career, which he followed with a three-year stint as the head coach at Jackson State. College football analyst Paul Finebaum spoke with Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic on how he believes Year 1 will go for Coach Prime.

“Well I think the first couple of games it will be a novelty, I cannot imagine how he can turn this thing around completely,” Finebaum said. “But I don’t think he has a very high ceiling Cole, everyone will be cheering for him, losses will be masked as wins.”

Sanders’ popularity is undeniable, as he’s one of the largest figures in modern football that has already brought a ton of attention to the Colorado program in his less than three months in the new role. There’s no question that there will be a ton of support in his corner, which Finebaum compared to a legendary athlete in another sport who competed in the PGA Genesis Open just this weekend.

“It’s not a very good comparison but if you’re a golf fan you felt like yesterday was a win for Tiger Woods. He finished a tournament, he had one great round, he had an opening round, he’s the story within the story and I think we will be watching Deion very closely,” Finebaum said.

All eyes will definitely be on Sanders and his squad in Year 1, as he’s brought in the No. 1 ranked transfer portal class according to On3’s 2023 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings, which include his son Shedeur Sanders and the former No. 2 overall recruit in the nation from 2022 Travis Hunter.

Coach Prime reeled in a ton of promising talent, but he also inherited a tough schedule to start the season, which includes visits to TCU and Oregon as well as hosting USC and Nebraska all within the first five weeks of the season.

“But if they get off to a 2-6 start we won’t be watching them. That’s just the nature of college football, every Saturday it’s about the top 25 and it’s especially is anybody in the top 10 in trouble. It’s not just some meaningless game, Colorado and Arizona State late in the day that had a 2-7 team and a 3-6 team,” Finebaum said. “Those games are not watched or cared about.”

Only time will tell how Sanders and his Colorado squad will fair in the 2023 season, but it’s clear that Finebaum is not a believer in the Buffaloes this season.