Thank you, Marc. Appreciate the time.
No problem. How you doing? I got not a complaint in the world. Now, we know that Colorado generates a lot of attention. Unfortunately, unfortunately, a lot of it isn't necessarily on the football field. What can you tell us about what's going to be different or what might be different from what we saw last year where they started off hot, and as we know, finish cold? It's going to be considerably different, and it better be different or else Chidor Sanders, who is the quarterback and is Deion's son, might get broken in two. I happen to think that Chidor is a very, very talented player. He's a legit top ten, if not top five draft pick, but you can't see a quarterback that's a Heisman candidate if you can't stand up right. Last year, he couldn't, and by the end of the season, he was hurt. So, Deion, as is Deion's want, toward the end of last season, basically he said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get rid of all these guys, and I'm going to bring in some new offensive linemen. He didn't get rid of all of them, but it's a totally reshaped offensive line. Deion did, again, amid much fanfare, he brought in a lot of talented, skilled-positioned players, but the buffs last year couldn't block or tackle particularly well, especially blocked.
And for them to be a bowl team or a contender of any sort as a new member of the Big 12, they've got to do the football nuts and bolts much better than they did a year ago. Mark Hislas joining us from the Denver Gazette. When you take a look, you mentioned the transfers. It's like we got a record transfer. He got tons of transfers when he first showed up. He had that famous line about bringing in his own luggage and it was going to be Louie.
He switched things up again. Is there any chance that there will be enough continuity for them to have success? It seems when you slap everybody together, you can't really grow a team. I think you hit right on it.
There's two things. The cohesion of everybody new. And if you're going to bring in a new offensive line, how long does that take to gel? And I think even more important than the cohesion on the football field is where is the real brotherhood here? I mean, NFL teams try to pretend to be family and you can hold the family together until free agency comes around at the NFL level. But if in essence, Colorado is a free agency team top to bottom and when things go badly for a quarter or a half or a month, you can feel like a team when you're winning.
But when you're losing, it's real easy if you're not truly teammates to be all about yourself rather than correcting the problem. Well, Mark, we certainly heard the comments from some of his past members who pretty much said, you know what, I I didn't want to be a part of it anymore because of the atmosphere there. And it's a circus and not just football. We most recently we've heard the back and forth with Dion and reporters and Sean Keeler, you know, getting banned is as football, at least locally. Has the actual football taken a back seat to just the circus? Do people talk about the football? Is it all Dion all the time?
OK, OK, OK. Firstly, I warn you, I used to work with Sean Keeler and one of the words that Dion didn't like Sean Keeler using was circus. I don't want to get you banned too, man. Oh, well, listen, I worry about it. Go ahead.
Thank you. I worry about it either. Dion loves the noise. He embraces the noise. He creates the noise. And if nothing else, this back and forth with reporters at Media Day was part of Dion's noise. I think he enjoys it. And and is that the best way to build a football program? I don't know about that, but it's the best way to get clicks, that's for sure. Well, if it's all about the money, then that that certainly might be the case.
So let me ask you this. What do you expect, given all the new faces that are in, knowing that Chidor is back, Travis Hunter. He says he wants to win the Heisman.
He very well might, depending on what he does on the football field. What do you expect from this team by the time we get to December? Are we looking at a similar record or are we looking at a marked improvement or are they the same thing with just a different version? I think everything is on the table, to tell you the truth, because I don't know how good this offensive line is going to be. I'll be perfectly honest with you. Should it be better?
It almost has to be better. But you mentioned it. Chidor Sanders and Travis Hunter, they're both legit top 10 draft picks.
I don't think I'm a guy from Colorado telling you that. I think almost any NFL scout would tell you exactly the same thing. So their talent at two very important positions is as good or better than any team in the country. I'm not sure there's a football team in America that has two offensive players as talented as Chidor and Travis in tandem. And Chidor throws it up and Travis goes and gets it. So they should be able to score points provided Chidor doesn't get broken in two.
And I think it's a large range. I know it sounds like a cop-out, but I think they could win four or five and they could win eight or nine. So it will be very intriguing. Their opener is Thursday against North Dakota State at home. North Dakota State isn't quite the FCS powerhouse it's been in the last five to ten years. But it's still not your ideal opening game opponent because North Dakota State has talent. And that is an absolute must-win game for the Bucs. If they lose that one at home, then you can forget a seven, eight, nine victories. So they have to win the opener and then we'll go from there. And that game takes place tomorrow.
Buffaloes and North Dakota State. What do you think happens at the end of the season? We talked about this yesterday.
We paid very close attention. Dion was asked about his future. He says, yeah, when Chidor and Travis are gone, I'm not going anywhere. I still plan on doing this college thing.
He didn't specify Colorado. What do you think happens? Is he going to stick around to rebuild? Is he still sexy enough to just bring in more recruits and start over? Is he going for bigger waters?
What do you say? Okay, we talked about the range of wins, or at least I talked about it. If he wins four or five and Chidor leaves, his other son Shiloh plays in the defensive backfield leaves, maybe Dion decides, you know what, coaching college football isn't as fun and rewarding as I thought it was going to be. So maybe he takes a year off and goes watch Chidor play on Sunday.
On the other hand, if he wins seven, eight, nine games, he thinks, you know what? I told everybody I was going to be a great college football coach. I am a great college football coach. I love coaching college football, so why not stay at Colorado?
Why not? Because if he wins eight or nine and he goes from one win program to an eight or nine win program in two years, then some power for school is going to come knocking, I almost guarantee it, and say, I hate to use this, sir, bring the circus here, Dion, because you've shown you can win and you've certainly shown you can draw attention. Mark Hisley here from the Denver Gazette.
When you think about the donors, the alums, folks with the money and even the students, how do people feel about the program and what has already been a wild year and a half? I think the one thing you can give Dion credit for, and I've lived and worked in Colorado for 40 years now, so I've been around. And Boulder, Colorado is a beautiful city. It is.
But it's also pretty lily white. And Dion, at the beginning of his press conference this past Saturday, made note of how much, what a marked increase there's been in enrollment by students of color and young black men. So he's had a cultural influence on Boulder, to be sure. And I think the student body has gone from, ah, there's a football game Saturday, the Buffs are going to lose again, to loving the Dion circus. Now he's got to win this season to keep that circus rolling.
But the students like him a lot, and I think the general public looks at it like, well, he's a show and he's a showman, but is he really a good football coach? Tom will tell. I think this year will be very telling as to what his future will be like in Colorado as well as coaching. Hey, Mark, thank you for giving us a first-person perspective. Where can people follow you and all of your work with the Denver Gazette?
It's a tough name. It's at Mark Kistler on Twitter or DenverGazette.com. So I've been covering Colorado football and the Broncos and everything else, Colorado, for a long time. And I would definitely let you know what I think.
I appreciate that. Well, are you excited for Botanix? Are you happy about that one?
Ah, that's a different topic. Botanix is going to be a very competent NFL quarterback. The 60 games at the college level will do him very well. I think as a rookie, he should perform well. But what is his upside? He's 24 years old.
And I think that's the key. Will he be a mediocre NFL quarterback? I don't think he'll be a bust. I think he will be a good, competent NFL quarterback. But at least that remains to be seen.
Yeah, let's see what they build around him. Mark, thank you so much. Enjoy all the football you have coming your way over the next few months. Thank you, sir.
