It shouldn’t come as any great surprise that Deion Sanders has told all of Colorado’s existing commitments that there’s no longer any room at the inn for them ($$). Like it or not, that’s what new coaches do coming in, especially at a school that was in sorry shape under the previous coaching staff.
This, however, is a surprise.
… What bothers at least two former commits, they say, is that Colorado athletic director Rick George called and asked them to remain committed to the program shortly after former coach Karl Dorrell was fired in October.
“I was told by Rick George I was going to have a scholarship regardless of who the coach was going to be,” said Tyrone McDuffie, an offensive lineman from El Paso (Texas) Parkland High. “He called me and my dad and he wanted the 2023 class to stay together. He said I was going to have a chance to be a Colorado Buffalo regardless of who he hired…
“When Coach Dorrell was fired, (George) had said we were going to have our scholarship offers honored,” said Turner, who reportedly pushed away interest from Florida State because he was set on playing at Colorado. “I was surprised when I got the call. It was so late in the recruiting process. I wish I was told earlier.”
Since when is that something within the purview of an AD? And now that it’s blown up spectacularly, how did George handle it? About like you’d expect.
McDuffie said he tried to contact George shortly before Sanders was hired at Colorado.
“I don’t know what happened with his phone. I don’t know if he blocked our numbers,” McDuffie said. “But we couldn’t get a hold of him at all. What I appreciate more than anything is honesty. He could’ve told us, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, start looking at other schools now.’ But to say one thing and another happen, it hurts.”
The Athletic contacted George to confirm that he did tell Colorado’s 2023 commits that their scholarship offers would be honored. He issued the following statement: “Any time there’s a coaching transition, many changes occur throughout the program. Every new coaching staff has the opportunity to do what’s best for the team, and despite the unfortunate timing of the current recruiting calendar, difficult decisions were made as timely as possible.”
A real profile in courage, that one.
You must be logged in to post a comment.