As if the 2026 recruiting cycle wasn’t harsh enough for the Colorado Buffaloes, the 2027 class has made things even worse for Deion Sanders. The word is, the Buffs’ head honcho has lost his only recruit from the 2027 class.

The recruiting outlet Rivals hopped onto X and released the worst news possible for Colorado Buffs fans:

“4-star CB Dolph McDonald has decommitted from Colorado.”

Things appear as if they couldn’t get any worse than this. The departure of Dolph McDonald left Deion Sanders’ 2027 class empty for the moment. He is a big-time, four-star talent out of Mississippi. He’s a top-30-ranked cornerback nationally and a top-10 player in his state, and during his 2025 high school season at Morton, he put up some monster numbers on both sides of the ball. Defensively, McDonald racked up 31 tackles and 5 interceptions, returning three of those for touchdowns.

He was also a dual-threat weapon on offense, throwing for 509 yards, rushing for 168, and even catching 34 passes for another 609 yards. Truth be told, losing him is a tough pill to swallow since he was the “foundation” piece Deion Sanders was hoping to build the team around.

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The timing of this is what really stings for the Buffs. Just a few weeks ago, another 2027 standout, Alexander Ward, decided to reclassify to the 2026 class. While that was actually good news because it meant the team got him on campus a year earlier, it left Dolph as the lone survivor in the 2027 group. Now that he has reopened his recruitment to explore other offers from schools like Auburn and Michigan, Colorado is essentially starting from scratch for that year.

If you’re wondering why a kid would walk away from playing for Coach Prime, it usually comes down to “keeping options open.” Dolph is still a high school sophomore, and being committed this early can feel like a lot of pressure when every major program in the country wants a piece of him. He was very respectful in his exit, even giving a shout-out to the Colorado coaching staff, but he clearly wants to see what else is out there before making a final, final decision.

One silver lining for Colorado fans is that the “McDonald connection” isn’t totally broken yet. Dolph’s older brother, Xavier McDonald, is a four-star wide receiver who’s still committed to Colorado for the 2026 class. Usually, where the older brother goes, the younger one eventually follows, so there is still a very good chance that Dolph ends up back in Boulder down the road, or maybe not. For now, though, he’s officially back on the market.

Deion Sanders and Co.’s recruiting trails

Right now, the Buffs have about 16 high school commits, including some serious playmakers in the backfield. The biggest recent news is landing Cam Newton, a star running back from Texas who put up insane numbers in high school – over 2,400 yards and 41 touchdowns just last season. He’s joining another Texas back, Cody Jordan, who committed just a few days ago.

During the early signing period back in December, Colorado locked in some key four-star guys like cornerback Preston Ashley and Dolph’s brother, Xavier. While these players are talented, the overall class rank is a bit low because Deion Sanders is still leaning heavily on the portal, where he’s already brought in over 40 veteran players to rebuild the roster.

It hasn’t all been good news, though. The team lost star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton to Lane Kiffin’s LSU. As the team heads into the 2026 spring season, the focus is clearly on finding the best guys from the available talent pool who can help them bounce back from last year’s struggles and make a decent run.