Coach Prime's Colorado makes third key move for Julian Lewis as 6'6" tall OL joins Buffaloes

Coach Prime bid farewell to several key players on the Colorado Buffaloes roster this offseason. However, he has also revamped the team through the transfer portal and high school recruiting. Now, Sanders has made another move that helps their strategy of building the trenches.

According to reports, Coach Prime and the Buffs have received the commitment of ex-Maryland OT Andre Roye Jr. via the portal. The 6-foot-6 offensive lineman was one of the top players of his position in the portal.

Buffs reporter Scott Procter shared some details about this new transfer on social media. According to him, Roye is the third offensive lineman to join Coach Prime's team. Before him, they managed to bring in Xavier Hill from Memphis and Larry Johnson III from Tennessee.

"Colorado has now added three transfer offensive linemen this spring: Xaiver Hill (Memphis), Larry Johnson III (Tennessee) and Andre Roye Jr. (Maryland). That trio has combined to play in 64 career games with 35 combined starts."

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The offensive line position has been a cause of concern for the Buffs for the past two seasons. During the 2023 season, Shedeur Sanders was the highest-sacked quarterback (52 times) on the field. Despite some development in 2024, Shedeur was still sacked a total of 42 times before being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of this year's draft.

With the addition of three offensive linemen, it looks like Deion Sanders is trying to do his best to provide the best protection to the team's 2025 starting quarterback. While Julian Lewis is expected to be QB1, Coach Prime has not yet officially named the starter.

CFB insider labels Coach Prime as one of the 'most powerful' coaches

Deion Sanders has helped the Buffs gain national recognition during his two-year stint in Boulder. He took a team that finished 1-11 in 2022 and helped them to a 9-4 campaign and their first bowl appearance since 2020.

Last week, Josh Pate heaped praise on Sanders' accomplishments in Boulder. He also called him one of the most powerful coaches in the game.

"Deion Sanders is one of the most powerful coaches in college football....While he's not done what Kirby Smart or Ryan Day have done...But he did turn Colorado around. Virtually overnight," Pate said.

"If you're talking about voices carrying weight, who makes people shut up and listen more in this sport, from a head coach's perspective, than Deion Sanders right now? And by 10 miles, who out of the head coaching voices moves the needle beyond more right now than Deion Sanders? (TS- 8:05 onwards)

It will be interesting to see if Coach Prime can help the Buffs compete for the Big 12 title and emerge as a contender for the 12-team playoffs this upcoming season.

About the author

Priyam is a College Sports content executive at Sportskeeda with a master's in Advertising and Marketing Management and over two years of experience as a writer. When it comes to reporting, Priyam believes doing a technical deep dive is one of his biggest strengths and he loves to dissect plays on the field and factor out the strengths/weaknesses of players.

A fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, Priyam sees Nick Saban as the greatest coach of all time. He is also rooting for Alabama quarterback Jalen Milore after following his progress over the years. The Michigan Wolverines football team is another of his favorite programs and it will be interesting to see how both these teams perform in new coaching eras.

When he’s not reporting, Priyam is usually at the gym or indulging in music. He has been a guitarist and a drummer for the past 17 years and finds his time of peace when playing music.

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra