PSA goes out to Colorado fans—Don’t cry because it’s over; Smile because it happened. College Football players are rentals that you can’t grow attached to. It was always just a two-year stint for Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter in Boulder. That era has now ceased, and a new one commences this fall. Peep over the proverbial horizon and you’d see the dawn looks more promising than you’d have thought. Pass rush coordinator and Canton-inductee Warren Sapp isn’t just cautiously optimistic, he’s supremely confident.

For a program that went from 1-11 in the ‘22 season to finishing ‘24 in the AP Poll, progression is relative. Colorado’s already come such a long way. How much more room for growth really is there, especially after losing your two best players? There’s enough. Just on offense, the Buffs had, quite frankly, an abysmal O-line. Which, by extension, meant they had a non-existent run game. Deion Sanders has plugged plenty of holes, but there are still plenty more in his team’s repertoire. He’s got his work cut out for him. That said, the EDGE room is one unit Coach Prime can rely on. It was a foundational pillar of his team’s success last year, and it remains tall this time around. Maybe even taller, at least per Warren Sapp.

Colorado’s D-line as a collective wasn’t great in 2024, but their pass rush was. One stat that epitomizes this is the fact that they led the Big 12 in sacks, with 39. Wreaking havoc on opposition quarterbacks, akin to Sapp himself in his heyday. Coach Sapp’s arrival as an assistant accentuated the personnel on the line of scrimmage. But shoutout D-line coach Damione Lewis, who deserves a ton of credit himself. Well, Lewis has now pulled a LeBron James and taken his talents to South Beach. His exit from the Miami Hurricanes left a void that put question marks over the direction of this defensive line. But Deion Sanders is as shrewd, connected, and most importantly, magnetic a recruiter as any, even for his coaching staff. They’ve onboarded NFL vet Domata Peko as Lewis’ successor. Peko’s freshness, in tandem with Warren Sapp’s experience, seems to be a concoction that’s elevated this unit.

In a video posted to the seensatansports YouTube channel, Warren Sapp explained what his plans are for Colorado’s pass rush heading into the upcoming season. “The thing that we’re going to shoot for is a much more consistent rush,” he said. Sapp added how preaching consistency factors into the creation of more sack opportunities. The ultimate goal, which Warren Sapp proceeded to delve into, is the mostly intact D-line complementing Colorado’s new-look offense. “[With] our offense and a new quarterback…we’re gonna need to get some things moving. Because the more opportunities we give them, the better our chance to win football games,” he said. The modus operandi is to give the offense as much time on the field as possible to iron out any wrinkles. Sapp then made a big, resounding statement about this D-line.

“This group is special. This group is going to be special. I’ll say that now…this group is going to be special,” he remarked. Conceded, this could be mere lip service to appease the fans and boost morale within the players. But for a legendary pass rusher like himself to say that holds a lot of weight. There’s merit to the claim, too. Colorado has almost all of their key defensive linemen returning. Unlike the offense, which is in a state of flux sans Shedeur Sanders, Colorado’s defense can pick up where it left off. But there’s still an elephant in the room that needs addressing.

Warren Sapp is holding his end of the bargain, but there are problems elsewhere

While the Buffs’ defensive line led the Big 12 in sacks last season, they were leaky against the run. Colorado gave up 151.4 yards on the ground per game. This disparity within one unit was an Achilles’ Heel of theirs, which prevented them, in the grand scheme of things, from making the playoffs. So let’s suspend disbelief and assume Warren Sapp is correct about getting to the quarterback. Will the line hold up against the opposition’s run game?

Deion Sanders dipped his feet into the transfer portal, as he’s tended to do throughout his head coaching career, and acquired a bunch of experience on the interior D-line. Gavriel Lightfoot and Tavian Coleman from Fresno State and Texas State, respectively, are good additions. But the crown jewel is certainly Jeheim Oatis out of Alabama. Not only is getting a player to transfer out of a blueblood a testament to what Deion’s building in Boulder, Oatis’ production speaks for his quality. The former 4-star prospect had 52 tackles and 3 TFLs through 3 seasons in Tuscaloosa.

It takes two to tango. As long as there’s a discrepancy between the interior and exterior defensive lines’ output, things won’t be optimal. Warren Sapp, Domata Peko, and indeed Deion Sanders need to strike a balance across their squad. This issue is merely a microcosm of a disbalance throughout the team. Shedeur Sanders’ offense didn’t receive requisite complementary play, and Sapp himself pointed to efforts around changing that. It remains to be seen whether things do indeed change. But with the personnel on deck, both in the roster and on the sidelines, the signs do bode well.