Cheering for Laundry

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Cheering for Laundry

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At midnight on Friday, January 16th, the Transfer Portal officially closed.

The carnage which technically began on January 2nd (but which had, as a practical matter, been going on since Thanksgiving weekend), finally came to an end.

The final tally?

A total of 38 scholarship Buffs out the door. That number is slightly higher than last year (33), but less than in 2024 (41), and far fewer than what came with the purge in Coach Prime’s first spring, when 57 Buffs left the team for the Transfer Portal.

Unlike prior years, however, Colorado is not the national leader in the Transfer Portal merry-go-round. Just within the Big 12 conference, there are horror stories of even worse roster carnage than that what we’ve witnessed in Boulder:

• Oklahoma State had 64 scholarship players leave the team (over 3/4 of the roster);
• Iowa State said goodbye to 55 players (with most of the best ones following Matt Campbell to Penn State); and
• West Virginia, which added an unprecedented 48 freshmen on Signing Day, watched 49 Mountaineers hit the Portal.

Even the big boys nationally have not been immune to the Portal this time around. Oregon had 28 players transfer out … including nine four-star recruits. Ohio State watched 34 players leave Columbus, including six four-star Buckeyes.

Now, Oregon and Ohio State are so loaded with talent that these defections did not create a stir nationally. But, if you took those same players, and added them to your roster as a Recruiting or Transfer Class, they would rank in the Top Ten nationally.

Such is the disparity in the rosters between the haves and the have nots.

In all, almost 3,972 FBS players entered the Transfer Portal in the two week window that the Portal was open this year (counting all divisions, the number is almost 11,000). A solid third of the players (1,619 as of Saturday) who had good homes at an FBS program last season are homeless today.

That’s a helluva way to run a railroad.

Just over two weeks ago, the Buff Nation was in a catatonic state. Over the New Year’s Day holiday, after enduring nothing but bad news over the month of December, matters got even worse. The New Year’s holiday was especially brutal, with promising defensive lineman London Merritt giving notice of his defection on New Year’s Eve, with starting cornerback DJ McKinney then going public with his decision to leave on New Year’s Day.

On January 2nd, though, the Transfer Portal officially opened, the the pendulum began swinging in the opposite direction. CU began adding players daily, with some days seeing four or five new names added to the roster.

At first, it was all lower division players. This gave some Buff fans cause for pause, but a pattern was emerging. Yes, CU was signing G6 and FCS athletes, but these were players with multiple years of starting experience, players who were All-Conference performers at their programs, players who were team captains.

Then, the CU coaching staff started reeling in four-star transfers. Players from Power Four conference schools who were being sought after by multiple Power Four programs. Players who can immediately fill holes in the starting lineup.

As the number of incoming transfers (now 40) has passed the number of players leaving (38), fans have begun making comparisons as to how the two lists matched up against one another. Is CU actually bringing in more talent that what was being lost? Does CU actually have a potential starting lineup which is equal to, or even better than, what CU had put on the field for the 2025 season?

It wasn’t, by any stretch, a great run for CU in the Transfer Portal, but, when compared to the state of mind the Buff Nation was in on January 1st, CU fans were positively euphoric.

Then … The gut punch.

With only a few days left before the Transfer Portal closed, it was announced that five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton was entering the Transfer Portal.

Stories varied as to how Seaton’s defection came to pass. One camp insisted that Seaton had been preparing to leave since November, with him sitting out the final three games of the season in preparation for moving on. At the same time, though, it was reported that Seaton had used CU’s media services this past week to create a statement that he was returning, only to blindside the coaching staff and the Buff Nation by using that statement to say he was leaving.

Doesn’t matter.

Seaton, who was, along with quarterback Julian Lewis, a pillar upon which the 2026 team was to be built, left.

This is painful in any number of ways.

First, there is the hit to the national perception as to Coach Prime’s ability to recruit (and retain) blue-chip talent. The recruitment of Julian Lewis and Jordan Seaton were supposed to demonstrate that Coach Prime could not only recruit top talent to Boulder, but that he could develop them and make them into national stars and future first round NFL draft picks.

Instead, we get headlines like these: The Sporting News: “Transfer Portal Losers“; Ari Wasserman (On3Sports): “I’m watching Coach Prime fail in real time“.

Now, with Seaton leaving, there is an open question as to Coach Prime’s ability to recruit enough talent to compete in the Big 12.

Take a look at some of the numbers …

In CU’s Recruiting Class of 2023, there was a five-star recruit in Cormani McClain, together with three four star-recruits: Dylan Edwards, Omarion Miller, and Adam Hopkins.

In CU’s Recruiting Class of 2024, there was five-star recruit in Jordan Seaton, together with three four-star recruits: Dre’lon Miller, Kam Mikell, and Brandon Davis-Swain.

In CU’s Recruiting Class of 2025, there were no five-star recruits, but six four-star recruits: Julian Lewis; Chauncey Gooden; Carde Smith; London Merritt; Adrian Wilson; and Quanell Farrakhan, Jr.

All four of the blue chip players signed three ago are now gone.

All four of the blue chip players signed two years ago are now gone.

And of the six blue chip players signed just a year ago, only three players are left – Julian Lewis, wide receiver Quanell Farrakhan, Jr., and offensive lineman Chauncey Gooden.

In CU’s Recruiting Class of 2026, there were no five-star recruits, and only two four-star recruits: linebacker Carson Crawford and safety Preston Ashley.

It’s hard enough to get blue chip recruits to Boulder in the first place. But, if you can’t keep them on the roster … what’s the point?

The second blow from the Seaton defection – and most difficult for CU fans to handle – is the (perhaps misguided) belief that Boulder should be a destination for quality players, not just a weigh station on player’s trip to a program which can actually compete at the national level.

It was hard to watch Christian Gonzalez be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft a few years ago … as an Oregon Duck. It will be hard to watch Jordyn Tyson be selected in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft in a few months … as an Arizona State Sun Devil (and perhaps Colton Hood as a Tennessee Volunteer as well).

And now … It will be very hard to watch Jordan Seaton be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft next April, as a member of … (God, don’t let it be Oregon or another Big 12 school).

Coach Prime’s pitch to the Buff Nation, the national media, and to recruits has always been that he could, despite not having coached at the FBS level before coming to CU, get his players to The League. He has a gold jacket from the NFL Hall of Fame, and, by God, he has the secret sauce for how to get there.

“Come to CU, and I’ll teach you how to play like a Hall of Famer”.

Now, with CU likely be shut out of the upcoming NFL Draft, while former Buffs are being drafted out of other schools … that recruiting pitch sounds pretty hollow.

Jordan Seaton, who was to be the face of CU’s 2026 renaissance, has decided CU (and its budget) isn’t good enough.

That’s a tough pill to swallow.

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So, what’s left? With the Transfer Portal closing, we can begin to take inventory of the 2026 Colorado roster.

While the incoming Transfer list of 40 continues to grow, we at least now know how many Buffs from the 2025 team stuck with CU and Coach Prime for the 2026 season.

And it’s pretty slim pickings.

Of the current projected scholarship roster of 73 players, only 22 were on the team last year – and that’s counting newly minted scholarship tight end Brady Kopetz, a former walk-on. And it’s not even that good … of the 22 returning players, four are tight ends (and we know how important tight ends have been to the roster in recent years).

If you are looking for returning starters from last season, the number is … drum roll, please … seven (Eight if you count former walk-on safety Ben Finneseth).

Here’s your lineup of returning starters (being generous and listing players with at least four starts for CU in 2025):

• Quarterback – Julian Lewis
• Running back – Micah Welch
• Wide receivers – Joseph Williams; Hykeem Williams
• Tight ends – Zach Atkins
• Offensive linemen – Larry Johnson; Yahya Attia
• Defensive linemen – none
• Edge rushers – none
• Linebackers – none
• Cornerbacks – none
• Safeties – Ben Finneseth

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld did a bit years ago about how fans aren’t rooting for players, they are “rooting for clothes” (see video, below). The humorous line of reasoning is that fans love a player … as long as he is wearing the laundry of the team they are cheering for. Once that player leaves, though, he becomes the enemy, and fans begin cheering for the next person wearing the jersey of their team.

The view is cynical, but never more true than it is now. Take a second look at the above list of returning starters from last season. Other than Julian Lewis, and perhaps one or two of the skill position players, who do you know anything about on that list?

For me, other than Julian Lewis, I couldn’t pick any of the other players out of a lineup.

Keeping track of players, and getting to know them, has always been an issue, but, in the not too distant past, there were players who we got to know – and love.

Think about some of the Buffalo Heart Award winners in the past, and tell me if you can’t picture them when you see their names:

• 1998 – Darrin Chiaverini
• 2004 – Bobby Purify
• 2005 – Joel Klatt
• 2007 – Jordon Dizon
• 2011 – Rodney Stewart
• 2015 – Nelson Spruce
• 2016 – Sefo Liufau
• 2017 – Phillip Lindsey
• 2020-21 – Nate Landman
• 2022 – Brady Russell
• 2023 – Shedeur Sanders
• 2024 – Travis Hunter

And now … Jordan Seaton, the 2025 Buffalo Heart Award winner, is on tour of America, seeing who will give him the best deal.

Back in Boulder, a player whose name we just heard for the first time the past two weeks (Bo Hughley? Jayven Richardson? Taj White?), will take Seaton’s spot at left tackle.

Only the most dedicated fans will learn the names of every new player on the 2026 CU roster … even fewer will learn their stories.

And the saddest part?

If Coach Prime’s roster building pattern holds … we’ll have to do the same thing all over again next off-season. The harsh reality is that many of the players who have joined the Herd since January 2nd – if not most – will be gone by next January 2nd.

Sigh.

In wake of Jordan Seaton’s gut punch, Jerry Seinfeld’s words are more true than ever before:

Try as we might, we’re not rooting for players anymore … we’re just rooting for clothes.

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This post, about the Postseason game, from the 2025, is filed under Article.
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