It’s Year 4 of Deion Sanders at Colorado, and the Buffaloes are hoping to return to the heights he took them to two years ago.
The Buffs are coming off a 3-9 campaign that started with a shroud of secrecy around his health as he battled bladder cancer and beat it. Afterward, there were struggles all over the field and this offseason Sanders flipped both of his coordinators and much of his roster to make the team more competitive in 2026.
Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are not walking through the door but there’s talent in boulder and there’s good coaching at the coordinator positions. Can Sanders help bring it all together and get the Buffaloes back in contention in the Big 12. Here are three things to watch going into the 2026 season.
The Julian Lewis Show
It’s hard to think of a Big 12 team that finished under .500 last season that will be more quarterback-dependent than Colorado will be on Julian Lewis. A five-star recruit who had no connection to Sanders’ former job at Jackson State, Lewis played more sparingly last season than expected.
But going into this season, the show is his. His backup is former Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson, and Sanders is likely to give Lewis plenty of rope to show he’s the right quarterback. He even hired Brennan Marion to be the offensive coordinator and implement a vertical passing game that should better suit Lewis’ arm.
Lewis lost most of last year’s best targets, but the Buffs do have returning starter Joseph Williams. Sanders also recruited former San Jose State star Danny Scudero, who led FBS in receiving yards last season.
So Lewis has weapons. He will have opportunity. What to watch for is whether he can put it all together and get Colorado on winning footing early in the season.
A Stealthy Tough Non-Conference
You can’t say Sanders didn’t schedule tough in non-conference. Colorado will be one of the few Big 12 teams that will play 11 power conference teams this season because he has two non-conference games against teams from the ACC and the Big Ten.
Like last year, Colorado will face Georgia Tech, only this time the game will be in Atlanta. That could help Sanders from a recruiting standpoint because Atlanta is a hotbed for high school talent.
After a game against Weber State, typically a solid FCS program, the Buffaloes get Northwestern at home. The Wildcats weren’t that good last year, but neither was Colorado. And a power conference team is a step up in talent.
Buffs fans could look at this one of two ways. This could be great preparation for Colorado as it goes into the Big 12 slate, or it could be a highly problematic glimpse of how much they may struggle in Big 12 action.
The Defensive Flip
Sanders is known for flipping rosters and coaches year to year. It’s no different in 2026 as he hired Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Chris Marve to lead his unit. It’s not just the new coaching staff. It’s a brand-new starting lineup. The Buffs don’t return a single returner, and one preview magazine has Colorado with 10 out of 11 transfers in its starting lineup.
Now Sanders and his staff recruited some great players, including Santana Hopper, a defensive tackle from Tulane, and leaned heavily into high-producing players at the FCS level, including defensive end Toby Anene from North Dakota State.
But the thing to watch for is how quickly this unit comes together and how well they play as a result. As much as Colorado’s success will be tied to how well Lewis plays, how the Buffs control the football game will boil down to the effectiveness of Marve’s 4-2-5 scheme.
