Shilo, Shedeur Sanders recruiting transfers to Colorado, asking them to reach out via DM

Little has been by the book during Deion Sanders’ tenure as the head coach at Colorado, from his introduction to his style on the sideline to his stances on recruiting. Add another bullet point to the list of unorthodox, as it appears that Sanders’ two sons — Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders — are heading up transfer recruiting efforts.

Both Shedeur, quarterback, and Shilo, safety, play for their father with the Buffaloes. As such, each is taking up transfer recruitments for their respective sides of the football.

“Defense transfers DM me,” Shilo wrote in an Instagram story, first flagged by College Sports Only. “Offense transfers DM [Shedeur].”

Shilo added a final note.

“This not Last Chance U,” he wrote, a reference to the popular Netflix series about junior college football.

Colorado and Deion Sanders have of course not been shy to use the transfer portal since he was hired early in 2023. Sanders famously eschewed most of the roster he inherited, famously telling the assembled team that he was “bringing his own luggage, and it’s Louis, OK?” Sanders alluding to the idea that the players he’d bring in were a cut above so openly might’ve been jarring, but he was unrepentant in following his own approach.

That’s also included not making trips himself to recruit high school players, something Sanders has been criticized — criticism he has in turn pushed back on — for not working to build these talent pipelines, but seems intent to keep following his portal-heavy plan of roster building.

And now that apparently includes deploying two of Colorado’s most visible, peer-level marketing assets: His sons.

The Buffaloes are set to lose a major talent

Colorado freshman cornerback and former five-star prospect Cormani McClain plans to enter the transfer portal, per On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

He can immediately play and has three years of eligibility remaining. The No. 13 overall recruit in the 2023 class, McClain committed to Miami before flipping to the Buffaloes in January 2023. One of Deion Sanders‘ biggest recruiting wins, the No. 1 cornerback played in nine games and started just four as a true freshman this past fall. He tallied 13 total tackles and two pass breakups.

“Study and prepare,” Sanders told reporters in September 2023 when asked what McClain needed to improve on to see more playing time. “Be on time for meetings, show up to meetings. Understand the scheme. I check film time from each player so I can see who’s preparing, so if I don’t see that, you would be a fool to put somebody out there who’s not prepared. That goes for all our players.”

From that point, McClain continued to build and cut out playing time towards the end of the season. He started in Week 6 against Arizona State. Sanders was complementary in November, praising the cornerback for focusing on practice and preparation.

He started the final three games of the season, against Arizona, Washington State and Utah, allowing 18 catches for 380 yards the 25 times he was targeted in coverage, according to Pro Football Focus.

On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this report.