Deion Sanders, Colorado football team self-reported 11 minor NCAA violations.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes football team have self-reported 11 minor NCAA violations since his hire in December 2022, according to USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer.
“The University of Colorado Boulder Athletic Department is committed to complying with NCAA regulations and will continue to educate our coaches, student-athletes, and staff to ensure that we remain in compliance,” the university stated in a statement. “We take all infractions seriously, regardless of the severity, and in these specific cases, these minor infractions were all self-reported to the NCAA.”
According to Schrotenboer, the offenses include various social media and transfer portal violations, a security concern, a forbidden gameday simulation, improper interaction with a recruit, a yoga coach violation, and a recruit receiving VIP seating access.
Transfer Portal Violations
More than 350 players attended Colorado’s postgraduate camp in May, which was open to high school grads and transfers who had registered through the portal. However, seven of those who took part did not have a “active” status on the site, which violated a guideline that forbids tampering.
Colorado issued a two-week recruiting suspension in June as a penalty, followed by a one-day ban on all action with transfer recruits in December 2023. The football staff was also compelled to participate in rules instruction, and the seven recruits who were not on active status were declared permanently ineligible at Colorado.
“The problem stemmed from not forcing camp participants to certify they were in the transfer portal,” Schrotenboer said in a statement.
Another transfer portal violation occurred a few days after Sanders’ hiring, when a high school coach submitted an academic transcript for a transfer prospect who was not yet on the transfer portal.
The situation put the program at risk of breaking NCAA tampering rules, and the player’s recruiting was immediately halted.
Staff members were educated on tampering regulations as well as transfer recruiting rules, according to Schrotenboer.
Social Media Violations
Sanders sponsored an Instagram live session in May featuring a recruiting prospect who verbally committed to the Buffaloes during the live video before changing his mind and pledging to Texas instead.
The recruit was a featured participant on the live stream for a few minutes, which violated an NCAA rule prohibiting prospects from participating in media activities handled by a head coach.
As a result, all of Colorado’s coaches were relieved of recruiting duties, and no recruiting evaluations were permitted for a week.
Another infraction occurred shortly after Sanders was hired, when a photo of a recruitment prospect list was posted to X, now known as Twitter. The photo was posted in violation of an NCAA rule that states that a program cannot publicize prospects before they officially sign with the school.
While the photo was removed after ten minutes, the staff was educated on social media guidelines.
Sanders shared a video of his team participating in voluntary exercises in January 2023, which violated the NCAA’s prohibition on recording player participation. As a result, the employees received training in volunteer activities.
Security Issues and Forbidden Gameday Simulation.
Due to a security breach, a former Colorado player and his son were permitted to access the team’s locker room prior to a game versus Stanford in October to hear pregame statements from the coaching staff.
This was deemed a violation during gameday simulations since the former player’s son is a recruit for the class of 2028.
As a result, the former player’s field access was suspended for the rest of the 2023 season, and the football staff received rules instruction.
In January 2023, the program broke NCAA gameday simulation rules by having a prospect line up across from Sanders while wearing a Colorado uniform.
The football staff received rules instruction as a result, and the program’s total number of authorized interactions with the recruit was cut by one.
Other violations
In May, Colorado made inappropriate contact with a recruit when a linebackers coach took a photo with him and later shared it on social media. As a result, the program received two fewer contacts with recruits, a reduction in six recruiting person days, and rules instruction.
In August, a strength and conditioning intern took the team through a 30-minute yoga session. This was a violation because the intern was not one of the program’s five officially designated strength and conditioning coaches.
In September, a recruit paid an unofficial visit to Colorado and got entrance to the best seating area, in violation of NCAA rules.