Deion Sanders shook up the college football world in his first year at the helm of the Colorado Buffaloes, and he’s only just getting started. Coach Prime joined the Front Office Sports Today podcast to discuss the state of college football and how, he says, NFL teams manipulate the draft behind the scenes.
On Nick Saban’s claim that college football is now about how much you can pay a player, not how well you can develop them
He’s accurate when it comes to a multitude of people. I don’t attract that type of player; I attract the type of player that wants to be great, that understands he has a window of opportunity, and he has to have a commitment to excellence. There are players who are playing for a bag, which, growing up in the environment, you can’t blame them. If you’re going to give up a bag, you’re going to have players playing for a bag. So I do understand it. I may not condone that as your focus, because I’ve always thought if you just focus on being great, the bag is gonna find you.
On the transfer portal
It’s just like somebody on a job on a 9-to-5 and you quit for an opportunity somewhere else. This is like you getting into the portal. If it’s good for the everyday man, I think it’s good for the collegiate athlete as well.
On how NFL teams manipulate players’ draft positions
You have guys that are slated to go and slot it to go at this number pick. Randomly, something comes out that they flunked their drug tests, or they have this type of injury, or they were seen with this and wildly, their draft grade drops later in the round, or even the next round. How does that happen? How does that mysteriously come out right before the draft? That’s even more harsh [than players refusing to sign with teams], because now you’re affecting someone’s livelihood, and you’re putting a tremendous rumor on somebody that may not even be true. So that’s done every year. The reason I know is that I worked the draft for about 10 to 12 years straight. I know that to be true.
Listen to the entire episode here and subscribe on Apple, Google, and Spotify.
![Florida head coach Jon Sumrall speaks after spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/USATSI_28676620_168416386_lowres-e1779828437389.jpg?quality=80&w=300)
