The Colorado Buffaloes began their fall camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this season. CU’s sibling campus, the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, played host to coach Deion Sanders and the Buffs, and he had nothing but positive things to say about the experience.
The Buffaloes were over an hour and a half away from their typical home in Boulder, but that wasn’t the only unique thing about the experience. Sanders revealed a strict set of conditions that were placed over the Buffs’ players during the first week of fall camp.
The Colorado Buffaloes’ isolation in fall camp
In Sanders’s Thursday press conference, he gave insight into the strict conditions his players were placed under. Perhaps the strictest of all was the complete isolation the Buffs had from the outside world. Sanders said the choice to be so far away from Boulder was intentional, as it put physical space between his players and the things, or even people, who may distract them.
“Well, we wanted to go somewhere away that was significant, not just around the corner, like 45 minutes, 30 minutes,” Sanders said. “We wanted to get away so they can’t have the contacts to drive back home on the urge. Even though we’re on buses, they’re not doing that. No visitations or anything like that. No outside food coming in. They’re doing a great job of feeding us.”
Positive experiences created by the Colorado Buffaloes’ isolation
In addition to the physical space Sanders placed between his players and the outside world, he also cut down on their access via social media. Colorado’s staff monitored the players’ phone usage, but the isolation led to real, and frankly hilarious, bonding experiences between the team’s members…