FOUNTAIN — The CU Buffs got a firsthand look at life inside the Air Force Academy and the unique demands facing Falcons football players during their team camp in Colorado Springs this week.
If the NCAA didn’t have a rule preventing teams from training or scrimmaging against other programs, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders would have had his team strap on the pads while they were at it.
“It’s something I’ve been suggesting for quite some time, haven’t I?” Sanders said at a news conference at Fountain-Fort Carson High School on Thursday. “Even if we could just practice at the same location, we would do it justice. We don’t have to compete against one another. But I wish one day we could have a spring game against one another.”
Sanders pushed for permission to hold a joint spring practice with Syracuse under coach Fran Brown in each of the past two seasons, but was denied both times.
Last year, the NCAA’s Division I FBS Oversight Committee said the request came too late. This year, the committee said it did not want to approve isolated requests while it continues reviewing the football calendar.
Sanders continues to make his case.
“It’d be wonderful for the state,” he said. “It’d be wonderful for both (Boulder and Colorado Springs) if we did home and away. It would be a great look for college football and Colorado football.”
Instead, the Buffs got an inside look at the day-to-day life of a cadet. Their grind starts well before the gridiron.
“Hanging with those guys was super cool,” sixth-year defensive back Ben Finneseth said. “Just seeing the different things they have to go through. Just their basic training and their survival camp. They were telling me they’re at survival camp for five days and they get three meals spread out over those five days. And as soon as they get back they start fall camp. They lose 15 pounds barely eating out in the middle of the woods, then they come back and start camp. That’s a real grind.”
The Buffs have their own set of obstacles coming off a 3-9 campaign in 2025. They tried to address some of those issues this offseason by overhauling both their roster and coaching staff.
Colorado brought in 43 transfers through the portal and hired new offensive and defensive coordinators.
Brennan Marion, who went 7-5 in his lone season as Sacramento State’s head coach after inheriting a 3-9 team, brings his fast-paced “Go-Go” offense to Boulder. Linebackers coach Chris Marve was promoted to defensive coordinator after Robert Livingston left to become the Denver Broncos’ pass game coordinator.
“This is not to demean any of the former coaches, but this is the best staff I feel like I’ve ever had in my coaching career, from youth all the way up,” Sanders said. “These guys are good, fundamentally sound, creative, innovative. They’re born leaders.”
