Deion Sanders has certainly brought attention to the Colorado football program since his arrival in December 2022, and, according to a published report, also got the school 11 NCAA violations.
USA Today reported that most of the violations were minor and self-reported and a lot of them were because of issues with Sanders and his social networking. Some were because of Sanders’ approach of relying heavily on transfer players in building the Buffaloes program.
Since December 2022, the Colorado athletics program self-reported at least 16 violations, according to the report. The school issued a statement that said, in part, “We take all infractions seriously, regardless of the severity, and in these specific cases, these minor infractions were all self-reported to the NCAA.”
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Deion Sanders’ social presence helps grow Colorado football, but at what cost?
Sanders, who helped grow Colorado from an also-ran with little interest into an also-ran with a huge social following and a Top 10 most-watched team on TV spot, is the reason for the violations. Or, the way the recruits, is the reason for the violatons.
Relying on the transfer portal and using his social platforms has gotten Sanders the publicity and but he and Colorado in the NCAA crosshairs.
One of the violations involved Instagram and a player who was on with Sanders. Other violations came from a camp at Colorado with a large number of potential recruits from the portal. Another was from a player getting unauthorized access to a Colorado game.
Sanders is the school’s big personality and is why Colorado is relevant in football again. But at some point, the minor violations could add up to major ones.
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