Colorado’s latest recruiting haul has given Deion Sanders something he didn’t have to lean on as much before: a pipeline of blue-chip high school talent that can reshape the roster over time.
Sanders joked about the shift during his 2026 Big 12 Conference Media Days appearance, but the point is clear. Colorado still works the portal, yet the Buffaloes are now chasing more high school prospects with real upside, and three names in particular deserve a bigger national spotlight.
The first is 2026 signing Payne, who looks like a player ready to fight for snaps right away after enrolling early. At 6-7 and 320 pounds, he brings the kind of frame that jumps off the page, but the more important part is how he uses it.
Payne pairs quick feet with heavy hands, and that combination stood out at Jones High in Orlando, Florida, where he handled edge speed with power and tenacity against college-caliber defensive linemen. He profiles as a possible tone setter for Colorado’s future offensive lines and could end up battling for the blind side spot.
Even with that kind of upside, he came in as a three-star prospect, which helps explain why he was less talked about than some of his lineman peers. Still, the interest around him was real: Florida State offered, and he briefly committed there, while Arkansas, Arizona, Florida and even National Championship Game runner-up Miami also got involved.
Colorado offensive line coaches Andre Gurode and Gunnar White landed a player who could have fit in the SEC or on a national title contender.
Another name worth watching is three-star edge rusher Pulliam, whose recruitment had a real ripple effect after he was previously committed to Alabama. The Yellowhammer State product looks explosive off the snap, whether he’s coming from a two-point or four-point stance, and he uses that burst to close on the quarterback.
His production backs it up: 13 tackles for a loss and nine sacks. But there’s more to his game than just edge pressure.
Hoover High also used him as an inside linebacker at times, giving Colorado defensive coordinator Chris Marve a versatile piece to work with. Edge rush coach Andre' Hart helped drive the recruitment, and Pulliam passed on ACC chances from Wake Forest and Boston College, the latter coached by former NFL playoff coach Bill O'Brien, to land with the Buffaloes.
Colorado also pulled in Washington, an unranked back out of Houston who started drawing attention after the Buffaloes offered him in May, according to his social media post about the offer. He plays in one of the country’s deepest football hotbeds and brings a mix of intelligence and aggression to the field.
Even before the recruiting buzz caught up, he had already shown he could compete against high-end talent, tangling with five-star Texas Tech wide receiver commit Benny Easter and helping hold him to 62 receiving yards in a lopsided loss. Washington is now a three-star and one of the newer Texas additions to choose Coach Prime, a development Colorado fans should be happy about because of the way he combines smarts with physical traits.
In Other News...
Colorado Fall Camp Just Put Deions Biggest Roster Questions Under Pressure
Colorados 2026 fall camp is shaping up as a roster audit as much as a practice schedule, with Deion Sanders and his staff sorting through a lineup that looks deeper in some places than it did a year ago and far less settled in others. The Buffaloes have added real firepower at receiver, rebuilt the linebacker room through the portal and brought in enough new faces on the offensive line to make nearly every position group worth a fresh look once camp opens.
The challenge is figuring out which of those upgrades can hold up when the competition starts for real. Colorado still has questions in the trenches, a secondary that leans heavily on youth and versatility, and a backfield that may fit Brennan Marions system better than it has proven itself to this point. Even with talent spread across the roster, the staffs biggest decisions now come down to which groups are ready to be trusted and which ones still need time before the depth chart feels secure. [Read more 🡒]
Coach Prime's ESPN Reaction Says Everything About His Loyalty
Deion Sanders has never been shy about backing people who have walked a similar road, and his reaction to the latest ESPN chatter fit that pattern. With former NFL players Ryan Clark and Cam Newton both having made the jump from the field to television and podcasting, Sanders offered public support for two of the more recognizable voices in that lane, praising Clarks talent and making it clear he hoped the rumors surrounding Newton were not true.
For Colorado fans, it was another reminder of how closely Sanders identifies with players who have had to reinvent themselves after football. He has built his own post-playing career around media and personality just as much as coaching, so when news swirls around former pros trying to hold their place on a crowded network roster, Sanders tends to sound less like a coach watching from afar and more like someone who understands exactly what is at stake. [Read more 🡒]