Deion Sanders has wrapped up his inaugural season as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, and despite a promising 3-0 start, the team finished with a 4-8 record. While the season had its ups and downs, it was not without its share of off-field challenges, as the Buffs found themselves facing 11 NCAA violations. Thankfully, these violations are considered minor and are unlikely to result in severe consequences.
Colorado proactively reported all of these violations, and according to USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer, they “none of which risked any serious penalties.” In fact, other prominent football programs like Ohio State and Alabama have also reported similar minor infractions, making them relatively common in college football.
Minor NCAA violations are common in major college athletic departments. In Colorado’s case, the infractions provide a window into how Deion Sanders’ social media engagement and transfer-heavy recruiting strategy sometimes violated technical bylaws. https://t.co/qGqjM62n9d
— Brent Schrotenboer (@Schrotenboer) January 25, 2024
The violations mainly revolved around Coach Prime’s active presence on social media, which sometimes tested technical NCAA bylaws. Additionally, Colorado’s recruiting approach, which heavily relied on transfers, occasionally conflicted with NCAA regulations. One significant violation stemmed from an impermissible “gameday simulation” for a recruit due to a security breakdown during a camp hosted by the Buffaloes.
To address these issues, Colorado took steps to self-impose penalties. They instituted a mid-summer recruiting ban and a one-day ban on portal activity in December. Sanders also found himself in hot water for improperly sharing team workouts on his Instagram account, contributing to most of the other violations.
Since all these violations were voluntarily reported by the university, the NCAA is not expected to take a harsh stance on the matter, and the Buffaloes should be able to move forward without major consequences.