New Stanford Football Coach's Introductory Press Conference Shows Stark Contrast To Deion Sanders At Colorado
Two Pac-12 football programs introduced new head coaches this month, Troy Taylor at Stanford and Deion Sanders at Colorado. They each took very different approaches to how they will approach the future of their rosters.
There is more player movement than ever before in the modern era of college football. Over 1,000 scholarship players entered the transfer portal since it opened last week and there is no shortage of talent looking for a new opportunity at a new program.
In addition, for coaches, there is an increased emphasis on finding players from the portal.
Why would you recruit a 17/18-year-old three-star recruit who has never played a down of college football when you could recruit a 19/20-year-old upperclassman transfer who has already spent time with a college program and in a college weight room, and played against college athletes? It's hard to make a case for the high schooler.
As a result, many college coaches are intentionally leaving roster spots open come National Signing Day. They want to wait for an immediate plug-and-play athlete over one they have to develop.
And for first-year head coaches, the portal allows for a real opportunity to bring in top-level talent and compete right away. Look at what Lincoln Riley did at USC, or Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.
This is where Deion Sanders and Troy Taylor come in.
Sanders, who took over at Colorado after three years at Jackson State, made it very clear that "he's coming." He does not care about feelings, he wants to win.
That was abundantly clear when Coach prime told the incumbent players at his new school to leave if they aren't up for competition. He is bringing his "Louis Vuitton luggage" (read: better players) with him through the transfer portal.
His son, Shedeur, is one. Travis Hunter Jr. is another.
The former four-star starting quarterback and former No. 1 overall recruit are in line to transfer from Jackson State to Colorado. They won't be the only ones.
Taylor, on the other hand, is focused on retention. The first-year Stanford head coach was officially introduced on Monday.
Where Sanders told his new players to get out, Taylor told his new players to stick around. He made it abundantly clear that every current Cardinal athlete will be welcomed back should they choose to stay.
In fact, Taylor encouraged them to do so.
Now, with that being said, Taylor did say that Stanford will recruit the portal. Coaches simply can't turn a blind eye to the transfer talent that is available.
Nevertheless, this dichotomy makes for a very interesting social experiment.
Sanders and Taylor are coaching at Colorado and Stanford. Both programs are in the same conference.
Sanders wants players to leave so he can replace them. Taylor wants players to stay.
Which school will be the first to win? Which approach to a rebuild will prove to be most successful?
However this is to play out, it will be interesting to see the results.