In the popular EA Sports video game NCAA Football 14, you needed to snag three players from a state in order to consider that state a pipeline. This allowed you to recruit those players at a reduced cost and was absolutely necessary for the hotbed states such as California, Texas and Florida.
Those states have long been considered the best to recruit high school talent to join the college football ranks. The CU Buffs have historically done well in California and Texas, but they’ve had little to no footprint in Florida.
Head coach Deion Sanders, however, has changed this in a major way, finally opening Colorado’s pipeline to the Sunshine State.
Buffs add to their secondary by adding a former Seminole. The Florida > CU pipeline is the best thing to come from the Sanders hiring https://t.co/J96SQ3U5h0
— Tony Cosolo (@LotsaBobaFett) May 1, 2023
Let’s bring in some numbers to back this up. According to 247Sports, Florida produced an average of six five-star recruits and 42 four-stars annually from 2020-2024. Before this year’s recruiting cycle, CU hadn’t signed more than two Florida prospects in a class since 2017 when Mike MacIntyre picked up Dante Sparaco, Shamar Hamilton and Carson Wells.
This year’s cycle includes a whopping four high school commits, including five-star Cormani McClain, Asaad Waseem, Isaiah Hardge and Kareem Harden, and nine transfers who played in Florida.
For the Buffs, what was once a trickle has turned into a waterfall of talent coming in from the recruiting hotbed of Florida.
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