Colorado Finally Names the Three Cornerbacks Deion Sanders Cut, Hours Before Texas Tech Game

Since Deion Sanders first told reporters on Sept. 22 that he'd removed three players from Colorado's roster, the Buffaloes sat on the names for eleven days. On Saturday, Oct. 3, hours before kickoff against No. 12 Texas Tech, a Colorado spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic that the dismissed players were cornerbacks Jah Jah Boyd, Justin Eaglin and Paul Omodia.

All three were transfers who joined the program ahead of this season. Boyd came from Indiana's 2025 national championship roster. Eaglin arrived from James Madison, where he started 14 of 26 games across four seasons. Omodia transferred from Lamar, where he led the Southland Conference with 14 forced incompletions.

Sanders triggered the cuts after Colorado's 41-7 loss at Northwestern on Sept. 19, a blowout that left him visibly angry on the sideline. He said what set him off wasn't just the scoreline. It was players he saw "in a laughing manner" walking off the field behind him.

"I don't understand how you can have joy in a loss, especially when I'm upset, and I'm walking right behind you," Sanders said after the game, according to Bleacher Report's Julia Stumbaugh.

Four days later, on a Sept. 23 episode of "Coach Prime's Playbook with Romi Bean" on CBS Colorado, Sanders confirmed the cuts without naming anyone. "We removed three. No longer on the team. We ain't playing," he said, per CBS News. Asked whether the players could work their way back, he was blunt: "No, no. It's a wrap. It's done."

He framed it as a pattern, not a single incident. "It's never one," Sanders said, according to DNVR Sports. "The players will tell you that I'm the most loving, giving and forgiving man you could ever meet but when it starts being conduct detrimental to the team, that will set us back." He also tied the decision to last year's collapse, when Colorado finished 3-9. "A year ago, I didn't put my foot down in it enough. It lingered a little bit and then it imploded. I'm not doing that again."

A source told The Athletic's Christopher Kamrani that the three "will likely not have a chance to earn their way back onto the roster." Sports Illustrated's Brian Howell reporting at BuffZone noted all three players' profiles had already been scrubbed from the Colorado Athletics website before the official confirmation.

The decision carries a cost for a defense already thin at the position. Boyd had logged 61 snaps this season and was Sanders' most-used dismissed player, racking up 13 tackles and a forced fumble, including a game-high eight tackles in the Week 2 win over Weber State. Sanders had praised him by name just days before cutting him: "Jah Jah is the kind of kid who plays with passion and practices with passion. Sometimes he goes a little too far but you can count on him to give everything he has." Eaglin played nine snaps, Omodia three.

Reasonable critics of Sanders' handling could point out that he has never detailed what the three players actually did beyond "conduct detrimental to the team" and a vague reference to a pattern of behavior. There's no NCAA violation alleged, no police report, no specific act named publicly. For players who transferred across the country to play for Sanders, losing a roster spot on an undefined charge with no path back is a steep consequence, and the lack of specifics makes it impossible for outsiders to judge whether the punishment fit the offense. Sanders has offered his own justification: he's drawing a hard line after a season that "imploded" in 2025. That's his account, not an independent confirmation of what happened in the locker room.

The timing compounds Colorado's problems on the field. The Buffaloes enter tonight's game against Texas Tech at 2-2, having dropped both Northwestern and a 23-13 road loss at Baylor. Defensive backs Jason Stokes Jr., Makari Vickers and Braylon Edwards are all out with injuries, according to Bleacher Report. That leaves Boo Carter, Randon Fontenette and Naeten Mitchell as the experienced options left standing in a secondary that started the season with six more bodies than it has now.

Colorado hosts the undefeated Red Raiders at Folsom Field tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. How thin the Buffaloes' depleted cornerback room holds up against a Big 12 unbeaten is the first real test of whether Sanders' roster purge was worth the price on the field.