Deion Sanders assumed some adorable rounds — Coach Prime and Peggy Coppom need a reality show on the Pac-12 Network, or whatever’s left of it after Comcast collects — with CU icons this past week. Yet as of this past Thursday night, Dave Logan wasn’t one of them.
“Haven’t heard from Coach Prime,” Logan told me. “I have heard from (CU tight ends coach) Tim Brewster.”
Brewster, the Buffs’ Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, and Logan, voice of the Broncos and coach of the four-time-reigning Class 5A state football champs at Cherry Creek, go back a bit. Logan coached Brewster’s kids at Mullen when Brewster was on the Broncos’ staff from 2005-06.
“I think highly of Tim,” Logan continued. “I think he’s a (heck) of a good coach and a good recruiter. He expressed that they’re very excited about what’s going on up there. And I share that optimism.”
As a Buffs great who bleeds black and gold, Logan couldn’t be more stoked — “I’m interested in getting this program back to a level of relevance; It’s been down way too long,” he said — that The Deion Show is running CU football.
But as a venerated Colorado prep football coach, and the only man in the country to win 11 state titles at four different schools, he’s also trying to get a grip on exactly how Coach Prime’s 40-40-20 recruiting model will fly here. And, more specifically, how that model is going to affect his kids in the short term.
“From a coaching standpoint, I would say I’m anxious to see how (Sanders’) staff approaches in-state recruiting,” Logan said. “Because I don’t think that (CU has) done a particularly good job in the last handful-plus of years in that area.”
While Sanders has prep coaches excited about the future in Boulder, they’re also publicly and privately wondering how many of their players will get to actually be a part of it.
We’ve learned that Coach Prime likes to keep his circle tight and his intentions transparent. That includes his philosophy in roster building — Sanders wants the Buffs to be composed of 40% undergrad transfers, 40% grad transfers and 20% high school recruits.
That last number is the tricky one, as it figures to make the spots at CU for elite Colorado prep talent more precious than ever. Twenty percent of 85 scholarships is 17 guys. That’s it. Although Logan doesn’t blame Sanders for the math so much as he does the trickle-down effect from the portal on FBS football as a whole.
“We had 70-some odd (college) coaches come through last spring at Creek and I had more than a handful of guys sit in my office and tell me that it’s really made it difficult for high school kids,” Logan said. “The premier kids, they’re going to be fine. But what it’s done is made it much more difficult for the (more developmental) kids that normally would get a look, because those positions are being filled by college players already in the portal. In that respect, I don’t like it. And it’s made it a much more difficult proposition on high school players being recruited at a significant percentage.
“(With Coach Prime), we’re just going to have to (sit) back and wait and see. I think that’s the only way to do it. I’ve just seen too many guys, too many players — not only the players that I’ve coached, but players that I’ve coached against, that I’ve talked to — that have gone unrecruited by CU over the last 10 years.
“And listen, I understand the process … and maybe we high school coaches fall in love with our players. I get that. But still, in my mind, that sort of thing happens too much. And I’m anxious and hopeful that Coach Prime and his staff will go about that a little differently.”
Of CU’s 296 offers for the Class of 2024, per 247Sports.com’s database, 10 are out to Colorado prospects. For 2025, out of 102 reported offers, there’s one in-state — Fairview’s Jordan Rechel. CU made nine in-state offers to the Class of ’20, 12 offers to the Class of ‘21 and nine toward the Class of ’22.
Which is why the next time Brewster pops down to Greenwood Village, Logan is hoping to see Coach Prime riding shotgun.
“I think it’s important and imperative that they lock this state down,” Logan said. “But the only way to do that is to go out and work these high schools and establish relationships. And then when you have an outstanding player, to offer those players. That’s what I’m hopeful with Coach Prime, is that THAT is how they’re going to do business up in Boulder. No disrespect to previous staffs but I just don’t feel that was the case recently. And it hasn’t been the case for the last eight to 10 years.”
Creek under Logan since 2020 has placed 11 players among 247’s annual top 15 Colorado prospects. Yet only three of those kids committed to an in-state school. If you want to start locking gates around here, the ones around Union Avenue would be a darn good place to start.
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