The Colorado Buffaloes appeared to be a team with a ton of promise heading into their second year under head coach Deion Sanders. But recently, the program has had a ton of players leave in the transfer portal. And another high-profile player officially entered the portal on Tuesday.
Colorado has already lost eight players to the transfer portal, including starting offensive tackle Savion Washington along with some key defensive contributors like Chazz Wallace and Devee Harris.
On Tuesday, they lost perhaps the most talented player to date to the portal. Cormani McClain, the No. 1 recruit in the 2023 high school class, has officially entered the transfer portal after only one season with Colorado.
BREAKING: Colorado cornerback Cormani McClain has announced he plans to enter the transfer portal.
The Florida native was the No. 1 CB in the Top247 for the class of 2023. Where will he end up next? 👀https://t.co/yor9aCmMG9 pic.twitter.com/MmcgWrtkic
— 247Sports (@247Sports) April 16, 2024
McClain didn’t exactly play the biggest impact for the team in his lone season in Boulder last year, appearing in nine games last season and recording two pass breakups. But given how talented he was on paper coming to the program, there was obviously hope that he would make a significant jump in his sophomore season.
That may still happen for McClain individually. But he will look to do so away from Sanders and Colorado.
For McClain, he will look to stick on with another program and hopefully rise to stardom like he was expected to by most college football experts.
And for Colorado, a troubling trend of promising players leaving the program this offseason continues.
Sanders and Colorado will likely find a replacement for all of these departures by bringing in their own transfer portal talent. But obviously, this latest departure could be a significant blow to the team heading into the 2024-25 season.