Colorado is falling behind in recruiting. They didn\u2019t have a promising turnout at the spring game. And amid it all, Deion Sanders decided to stir the media with a pointed jab at 247Sports. It all began when the sports media outlet rolled out fresh evaluations of the Buffs\u2019 roster and recruiting pipeline that spring ball usually brings. But when the coverage hit a nerve, the head coach called them \u201cdesperate.\u201d It didn\u2019t take long for a former Buff-turned-247Sports-analyst to fire back.<\/p>\n
Matt McChesney is a Boulder guy through and through who started his football career at Colorado and later played in the NFL. Currently, he\u2019s linked with 247Sports with Back in Black, a Colorado football podcast. He didn\u2019t take Deion Sanders\u2019 comments very well and didn\u2019t hesitate to voice his thoughts on the program\u2019s approach and direction.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t think their recruiting is going very well,\u201d Matt McChesney said. \u201cAs an alum and as an ex-Buff, they take it really personally because of the passion I have for that place that they don\u2019t. Don\u2019t throw shade like I\u2019m a chump, like some of the guys you hired.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a response from Deion Sanders\u2019 comments during Colorado\u2019s April 12 spring game press conference. His statement divided fans as the tension between Colorado and parts of the media boiled over again.<\/p>\n
\u201c247, they\u2019re hiring everybody right now,\u201d Deion Sanders said. \u201cWho else is with 247. I heard somebody must have told me something. But somebody else, I don\u2019t know who it was, but I\u2019m like, man, they must be desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Still, this didn\u2019t come out of nowhere. Colorado has been under scrutiny for months with every portal move, every recruiting miss, and every depth chart being dissected. And when your 2026 recruiting class is sitting near the bottom of the Big 12 (15th out of 16 teams, per Rivals), those critiques get louder.<\/p>\n
Deion Sanders hears it, and he\u2019s not interested in letting it slide. He\u2019s following a pattern that dates back to Jackson State. Control the narrative, challenge the critics, and keep the spotlight exactly where he wants it. But just when it felt like this was another of his vs. media episodes, Matt McChesney\u2019s voice mattered.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a personal touch in his response because he isn\u2019t some outsider throwing hot takes for clicks. Matt McChesney tried twice to get into the program as an OL coach. Both times, he didn\u2019t even land an interview with Deion Sanders. There\u2019s no bitterness, at least on the surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not regret trying to help my university when I think I can,\u201d he said then. \u201cIf the job opens again, I\u2019ll try again. So no, I\u2019m not mad at all. I just love that place, and it\u2019s the only place I would leave my own businesses for.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That frustration at being left out of the rebuild boiled over when former 5-star OT Jordan Seaton transferred<\/a>, prompting McChesney to critique the program\u2019s messaging about money.<\/p>\n \u201cMoney has something to do with this,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, Coach Prime, please stop talking about money publicly\u2026 Please have a little bit of business acumen. Because when you come out and say that we want dogs, not cats. And cats chase bags, and we don\u2019t want guys to chase bags. But then, Coach Prime consistently did it when he was a player.\u201d<\/p>\n That critique has been hovering around Boulder for months. Is the message matching the method? But while the noise builds off the field, Colorado still has to figure things out on it. And that starts with one name \u2013 Julian Lewis.<\/p>\n Deion Sanders still has a lot to fix<\/p>\n The on-field questions start with quarterback Julian Lewis, who, despite flashing arm talent in the spring game, remains a work in progress, still competing for the starting job, adding another layer of uncertainty to a program under fire. If he gets the job, the 19-year-old will still have a tough schedule to follow.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The team\u2019s path forward is fraught with obstacles, including a road opener at Georgia Tech, a daunting Big 12 gauntlet, a new offensive scheme under a reshuffled coaching staff, and persistent questions along the offensive line. So no one can really say anything until they see what they can do on the field against opponents.<\/p>\n The biggest concern is that personality can carry a program only so far. At some point, results have to show up. Right now, between recruiting rankings, staff decisions, and public back-and-forths with both the media and alumni, Colorado feels like a program walking a very thin line between belief and backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado is falling behind in recruiting. They didn\u2019t have a promising turnout at the spring game. And amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[564,59,11,7,117562,117563,49,48,107787],"class_list":{"0":"post-866030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-colorado","9":"tag-colorado-buffaloes","10":"tag-deion-sanders","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-matt-mcchesney","13":"tag-milan-puskar-stadium","14":"tag-ncaa","15":"tag-ncaa-football","16":"tag-ncaa-football-game"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116401774484195358","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}