CU’s Deion Sanders: Buffs cornerbacks ‘gotta play better’

Few people know better than Colorado head coach Deion Sanders what elite cornerback play should look like.

Sanders is, after all, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, and arguably the best cornerback to ever play the game of football. That’s why it’s surprising to see that one of the glaring issues for the Buffaloes this season has been poor play at cornerback.

“We gotta do a much better job on the back end, we do,” Sanders said Saturday after a 24-21 loss that dropped the Buffs to 2-3, 0-2 in the Big 12.

CU’s pass defense faces its toughest test of the season so far on Saturday with a visit to TCU (5:30 p.m., Fox). CU has yet to play a top-30 passing offense, but the Horned Frogs rank 12th in the country in passing yards per game (320.8).

TCU quarterback Josh Hoover is sixth nationally in passing (310.5 per game). He has two of the top five receivers in the Big 12, in terms of yards per game, and a third who ranks 12th.

Statistically, the Buffs haven’t been dreadful against the pass. They rank 63rd nationally (out of 136 teams) in allowing 207.6 yards per game through the air. But they have yet to play against a top-notch passer and have still managed to struggle in coverage.

Per Pro Football Focus, there have been 58 cornerbacks in the Big 12 who have played at least 20% of the coverage snaps for their respective teams this year. CU has five corners on that list, three of which rank among the bottom five for coverage grades: Preston Hodge (No. 54), Makari Vickers (No. 55) and Teon Parks (last, at No. 58).

RJ Johnson is CU’s top-rated corner on that list, at No. 22, but he’s played just four snaps in the last three games because of injuries. DJ McKinney comes in at No. 46.

“They gotta play better. All of them gotta play better,” Sanders said after another disappointing loss on Saturday against BYU. “We gotta do a better job of preparing them and coaching them.”

BYU’s Bear Bachmeier threw for only 179 yards, but he tossed two touchdown passes to Chase Roberts, who was wide open in the end zone both times.

In addition to the passing yards allowed are the penalties that occur in coverage, and CU has racked up a lot.

The Buffs have been penalized seven times for pass interference, which matches their total from the entire 13-game season in 2024 and is just one shy of the total from the 12-game 2023 campaign (eight).

In addition to the pass interference flags, two holding penalties have come against cornerbacks in coverage.

Late in the first half on Saturday, CU was leading 14-3, but McKinney was flagged for holding and Hodge for pass interference on back-to-back plays. Those penalties advanced BYU 22 yards and helped to set up the first touchdown pass to Roberts.

“We’re getting penalties on deep balls,” safety Tawfiq Byard said after Saturday’s game. “As a DB, you know it’s next play mentality, but we just got to keep repping it in practice. Eyes, feet, hands. You get yourself in the right position, you make plays on the ball. That’s our job. As a defensive back room, we take full accountability on what happened tonight, and we know we gotta go out there and improve.”