Retention season is here: Can Colorado keep its core?

Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders has work to do to prevent stars from hitting the portal after a lost season. (Photo by Cristian Blanco/Sko Buffs Sports)

As the 2025 season winds down, the most important games Colorado plays aren’t on the field. They’re in conversations behind closed doors to keep players from being lured away by the opportunistic market.

Because in today’s college football landscape, the lesson Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has learned firsthand is that retention has become the new recruiting. Twenty-five players left Boulder last offseason via the transfer portal, and as movement becomes less regulated, CU has work to do to keep hold of its most valuable talent. 

Despite the disappointing year in the win-loss column, there are some bright spots worth fighting for. Most notably, threats in the wide receiver room like Omarion Miller and Joseph Williams have shown sparks of potential stardom, and Miller is still within reach of a 1,000-yard season. Quarterback Julian Lewis and offensive lineman Jordan Seaton only add to the list of young pieces Colorado hopes to build around.

So what actually influences a player’s decision to stay or go? The first answer that comes to mind is guaranteed playing time, but there are more layers. NIL packages and local branding deals matter. NFL development matters. Stability with coordinators and scheme matters. 

And CU has seen both sides of that equation. Take linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green and offensive lineman Kahlil Benson, two former Buffalo starters who jumped into the portal last offseason. Hill-Green now patrols the defense at national championship contender Alabama. Benson, meanwhile, is a shield for one of the country’s best rushing attacks at No. 2-ranked Indiana. 

On the flip side is defensive end Arden Walker, a fifth-year Coloradan who transferred into the program from Missouri. 

“The portal is so different even from when I was in it two years ago,” he said during Tuesday’s media availability. “It’s just like free agency now.”

That type of free agency is something Coach Prime prepares for. He didn’t sugarcoat acknowledging that reality. 

“You gotta assume and predict that you will lose 10–12 percent (of the roster),” Sanders said on Tuesday. “We know who’s talking to other people, but we’re prepared for everything. It’s not like if this happens, it’s a surprise. That was a decision we knew you would make, because that’s who you are.”

He gave a candid glimpse into how Colorado evaluates the roster long before names officially hit the portal. Predicting what will happen is one thing, but actually preventing key pieces from leaving is another. For the Buffs, that means convincing the likes of Lewis that their best path forward is still through US-36 at the base of the Flatirons. 

The conversations to keep the cornerstones of this roster have already begun. And in a landscape where players can leave as quickly as they come, Colorado’s future success will depend on whether those flashes of potential choose them for the long haul.