BOULDER — Max Parrott couldn’t believe all the love he was getting from this big, proud CU Buff, a first-time Power 5 head coach, a man driven like a snowplow to make a flagging football program relevant again.
The catch?
That program was Purdue.
And the big, proud Buff in question was former CU star Ryan Walters, who was hired by the Boilermakers about a week after Deion Sanders was introduced as the new face at Walters’ old stomping grounds.
“(Purdue) came out and they showed me so much love,” said the 6-foot-4, 273-pound Cherry Creek lineman, rated in the 247Sports.com composite rankings as one of Colorado’s top six prep prospects in the Class of ’24 and one of the top 101 tackles in the country. “They called me every week.
“I talked to (Walters) a lot and when I got out there for the first time, I loved it. I loved everything about it.”
Parrott was Louis Vuitton enough to land offers from five Power 5 programs: Arizona State, Purdue, Iowa State, Washington State and … yes, CU.
“I went up (to Boulder) for a barbecue,” said Parrott, a three-star tackle who committed to Purdue this past June, roughly a month after Walters offered him. CU came hard, but came late.
“I think, especially now with (Coach Prime’s staff), they’re just not really looking at (local kids) like that. And I think a lot of people just see opportunities out-of-state. I think they see more love from those (far-off) schools and I think that’s really what attracts (them). That’s what attracted me to go out-of-state.”
For a second straight season, Sanders and his staff and absolutely crushed it in the transfer portal, luring six players, as of late Monday evening, with SEC experience and four more who appeared on Big 12 rosters this past fall. CU had locked down only nine prep commitments as of early Tuesday morning, but the quality more than offset the quantity, given the presence of Jordan Seaton, the top high-school offensive tackle prospect in the nation.
But with 40 hours to go until the early national signing day period opens on Wednesday morning, the Buffs’ initial 2024 recruiting haul was also notable for what it didn’t have. The biggest college football program in the state, and now one of the most-watched in the country, was opening the early signing period without a single Colorado prep football prospect as part of its initial haul.
“Our two primary contact guys (for local coaches) who were at (CU) were (ex-Buffs tight ends coach) Tim Brewster and (ex-CU offensive line coach) Bill O’Boyle,” Creek coach Dave Logan, voice of the Broncos and a former Buffs All-American, told The Denver Post recently. “And both those guys are gone.
“Who is (our contact) now that the two guys that recruited (the state of Colorado) are both gone? I guess my answer would be, it remains to be seen. I’m sure (Sanders) is still filling out his staff and I would have to think we’ll get to know an assistant coach or two in the near future.
“But, you know, it’s concerning to me. And I would hope that, while they have a national game plan in place, as far as recruiting, I’m most anxious to see what they do locally.”
“That is why local kids don’t want to stay”
And he’s not alone. Sanders has made no secret about his roster-building formula, which heavily prioritizes portal shopping over prep prospects. Coach Prime’s preferred ratio is 40% undergrad transfers, 40% grad transfers and 20% from the high-school ranks.
As a side effect, the Buffs’ historic roster turnover over the last 12 months has diluted CU’s “local” flavor as well. From 2019-22, the program carried an average of 28 active players who graduated from Colorado high schools on their roster, with a high of 35 in the fall of ’21 when the team finished 4-8 under Karl Dorrell. According to the most recent roster posted on the program’s webpage, that in-state count was down to 11.
One of those was freshman center Hank Zilinskas, a Creek alum who’d helped the Bruins win four straight Class 5A state titles.
Injuries forced Zilinskas into making his first Buffs start against CSU on Sept. 16. But when Sanders was asked about the young lineman after the game, the CU coach either didn’t recognize Zilinskas by name or thought the inquisitor was referring to former Buffs tailback Anthony Hankerson, who recently portaled to Oregon State.
“Stuff like that is why local kids don’t want to stay,” observed Creek tackle Hayden Treter, Zilinskas’ former teammate and a USC commitment.
“You know, you miss out on talent because you never looked at it. And then the guys you have, you don’t look at as much as the people you brought in.”
That said, Treter said Zilinskas told him that he “loves it” at CU, despite the coaching changes, and “that everyone’s super nice, disciplined — Coach (Sanders) is big on discipline and stuff like that. And that it’s not 100% how the media tells it. But obviously some parts are true.”
Another truth: Coach Prime has actually put out more offers — 23, per the 247Sports database — to prep prospects from Colorado over the last two recruiting cycles than Dorrell had over the previous two (21).
Although that last nugget comes with a caveat, too. Sanders reportedly made 173 more offers during that span, by a count of 807 to Dorrell’s 634. On a percentage basis, Coach Prime has extended just 2.4% of his total offers to Colorado preps in the classes of 2023-’25.
Among the nearest FBS programs, Sanders’ average of 12.5 offers per cycle to Colorado prep talent in 2023 and ’24 is only one invite behind CSU (13.5, on average) and ahead of regional peers such as Wyoming (8.5), Nebraska (4.5) and Utah (1.0).
“The issue is, when you go to these out-of-state (prep) games and you lose, it’s hard to say, ‘Well, (prep football) in Colorado should be respected,’” said Treter, whose Bruins traveled to Cleveland St. Edward — Ohio giant vs. Colorado giant — in September 2022, and lost 13-9. “And I think there’s a lot of really good talent, like myself and a bunch of other guys — all these guys (who played in the CHSAA title games). But it’s hard when there’s so much talent in California, Texas, Florida, and so on. When you’re these big colleges and you’re used to just getting all these guys from (a bigger) place, it’s hard to go look at Colorado. And then Colorado kids just fall under the radar.”
“We have the talent here”
That said, local coaches are keeping the doors — real and metaphorical — open for whenever Sanders, or one of his new surrogates, will grant them an audience.
Although when The Post asked Logan if Prime had visited Creek’s campus during his first year on the job, the coach with the most state titles in Colorado prep football history replied: “No, he has not.”
And as Parrott will attest, there’s more than enough luggage in the metro that’ll hold up on the long and winding roads of the new-look Big 12.
“I think we are (good enough),” the future Big Ten lineman said. “But I think it’s going to take some time for (Sanders and his staff) to realize that we are. And that we have the talent here that can win games at a higher level. I think it’s going to take time for them to see that, too.”
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