USC's Lincoln Riley gives Deion Sanders 'credit' for roster overhaul at Colorado

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USC head coach Lincoln Riley was in the same position as Deion Sanders just one year ago, and Riley went 11-3 in his first season in Los Angeles. 

Sanders is looking for a similar result in his inaugural season at Colorado, hoping to turn around a program that went 1-11 in 2022. 

Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans runs onto the field for the spring football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on April 15, 2023. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

"Coach Prime" is going about changing the culture at Colorado by flipping the roster, with nearly 50 players leaving the team since his arrival in December and more than 70 in total entering the transfer portal since August, ESPN reported in May.

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His roster overhaul has drawn a good amount of attention, including criticism from a few coaches around the country. 

But don’t count Riley as one of the coaches upset with Sanders’ roster flip at Colorado. The USC head coach gives Sanders credit for using the rules to his advantage. 

"I give them credit," Riley said at Pac-12 Media Days, according to The Denver Gazette. "We all know what the rules are, we all know what the parameters are. Our job is to build the best teams that we can at the universities that give us the opportunities to do it. No excuses. 

University of Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the Black and Gold game at Folsom Field April 22, 2023. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

"There obviously needed to be a roster transformation there in coach Sanders’ opinion.