The Colorado Buffaloes are back in camp, and this time the first week of work takes them out of Boulder entirely.
The Buffs reported Sunday at the Champions Center before heading to Colorado Springs, where they’ll spend the opening week of preseason practice at Fountain-Fort Carson High School. Colorado will stay at CU’s Colorado Springs campus, UCCS, during the trip, and every practice there will be closed to the public.
A total of 104 players showed up as Colorado opened its fourth season under Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders. He’s doing it with a staff he described last month at Big 12 Media Days as the best he’s had across his coaching career.
“This is the best coaching staff I've ever had in my coaching tenure - high school, college, everything," Coach Prime said last month at Big 12 Media Days. "This is the best staff."
Sanders has also made clear that the way this roster was built matters just as much as the talent attached to the names. For him, it’s about fit, mentality and how players mesh with what Colorado wants to be.
“It is us. It's who we are, what we desire," Coach Prime said.
"It's not just grabbing the guy who is a four-star or five-star. It's the guys that fit and the guys that have that mentality that they want to play the game."
That process has meant a heavy dose of new faces, and defensive back Naeten Mitchell said the group has spent the months since January learning how to function together.
“When you first walk in, everybody's new," Mitchell said. "We brought in a lot of new players from different places, and you don't really know each other too well. But from January to now, we've been working a lot on building a brotherhood and connecting with each other outside of football."
Colorado also enters camp with new coordinators on both sides of the ball, with Brennan Marion taking over the offense and Chris Marve leading the defense.
The calendar is moving fast now. Monday is one month out from the season opener, when Colorado visits Georgia Tech on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 6 p.m. on ESPN. The Buffs then return home for their first game at Folsom Field, a Saturday, Sept. 12 matchup with Weber State at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Also Monday, CU said Jason Phillips is no longer with the football program in order to attend to a family matter.
In Other News...
Colorado Fall Camp Opens With A Coaching Change Fans Cant Ignore
Colorados fall camp opened with a staffing wrinkle that did not go unnoticed, as the Buffaloes official coaching directory no longer lists receivers coach Jason Phillips and he was not part of the teams fall camp introductions. For a program trying to settle into its next phase, any change on the staff page tends to draw a little extra scrutiny, especially when it involves a position group as central to the offense as the receivers.
Rashad Davis, who had previously worked as an inside receivers coach, appeared to be handling Phillipss role as camp got underway. The Buffaloes have not officially confirmed what happened or offered an explanation, leaving the move to speak for itself while fans and observers try to read between the lines about how the offensive staff is being shaped. [Read more 🡒]
Colorados New OC Just Raised The Stakes For This Offense
Colorados offseason reset brought a clear message on offense, with the program turning to Brennan Marion to run the attack after its 2025 season. Marion arrives from Sacramento State, where he served as head coach, and he is expected to install his up-tempo go-go system while Chris Marve takes over as defensive coordinator. For a Buffaloes team trying to sharpen its identity, the staff changes point to a more aggressive look on both sides of the ball.
The timing makes the quarterback situation especially worth watching, because redshirt freshman Julian Lewis is projected to open the year as the starter against Georgia Tech. That is a lot to ask of a young passer in a new system, but it also gives Colorado a chance to find out quickly how fast Marions offense can take hold. The real intrigue is whether the scheme and the QB can mesh quickly enough to make the Buffaloes dangerous right away. [Read more 🡒]