Taylor Upshaw - BACK in the portal!

Submitted by Cousin Larry on April 26th, 2023 at 6:31 PM

The dude had the big INT in the redzone in the fourth quarter of The Game, and then had two sacks in the B1G championship game.  Transferred to Colorado for his final year of eligibility, but I guess the elevation and/or Coach Prime didn't sit well with him.  He's back in the portal looking for a final landing space.

 

Colorado EDGE Taylor Upshaw has re-entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, per @mzenitz.

He transferred to the Buffs in January after playing with Michigan in the College Football Playoffs👀 https://t.co/Rib0iQqKJN pic.twitter.com/iXbMkpiudx

— On3 (@On3sports) April 26, 2023

Linky.

Blau

April 26th, 2023 at 8:27 PM ^

I'm just surprised that our resident "Anything that happens within the CU Football program should be posted on MGoBlog" OP E. Creatures didn't post this. Glad he seemed to focus on the positive aspects because the negative side to this era is starting to rear it's ugly, noisy head.

Also - for those that think Coach Prime cares about players he's not related to, go watch any recent press conference in which he comments on players leaving the program. You'll get the warm, fuzzy feelings right away /s

Joby

April 27th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^

“The greatest college coaches dont have crazy nicknames like this.”

 

That’s not true at all. Paul “Bear” Bryant, Les “Mad Hatter” Miles, Mike “Mad Scientist” Leach, Jim “The Vest” Tressel, Bobby “The General” Knight, and Jerry “The Shark” Tarkanian are names that I can think of off the top of my head.

Ezekiels Creatures

April 27th, 2023 at 12:38 AM ^

Why? Taylor Upshaw wasn't lighting up the world here. He probably wasn't lighting it up there either.  Prime just brought in good EDGEs. Upshaw read the handwriting on the wall. Turns out he wasn't going to play a lot there either. Maybe he's headed to the MAC.

 

Deion Sanders knows football better than people think he does.

KBLOW

April 27th, 2023 at 10:50 AM ^

LOL! Those edges he brought in are by no means starter material let alone "good."  They might have been rated the best remaining DEs in the portal but that doesn't mean a thing b/c they are being rated against a bunch of other scrubs. They are former 3stars who have proved a lot less on the field than Upshaw and were much, much further away from lighting up the world as you say.  Maybe he didn't fit the scheme or something, but it's more likely Upshaw realized Sanders was a snake oil salesman more interested in his clothing line and building himself up than being a coach. 

Leaders And Best

April 26th, 2023 at 6:35 PM ^

I'm assuming Deion must have a plan or something we don't know, but if he doesn't, this is looking like a massive train wreck in Year 1.

They are still going to be better with some of the elite talent he is bringing, but I don't think it needed to be this messy. The lack of depth could really hurt if he can't find players to fill out the roster

BoFan

April 26th, 2023 at 7:10 PM ^

It’s looking like a complete train wreck.  I don’t see how you can build a team, in the Pac 12 not an HBS, when 75% of the roster is new. I don’t think his current “acting” persona which is a tough love one but combined with “we don’t give a shit about you, you are just meat in a meat factory” will win over players to play their heart out for him.  It’s a grand experiment in the new chaos of the portal.  Clearly no one is getting NIL except his son and handpicked players. 
 

I hope he fails, and I would expect this to fail. He either needs better talent or better schemes or both.  He doesn’t have time for a complicated playbook, he’s not going to have players willing to “die” for him, and I don’t see him getting better players in this conference. But you can never underestimate Coach Prime. 

The Deer Hunter

April 26th, 2023 at 7:29 PM ^

Correct, and CU is at 20, now 21 short of fielding a full scholarship roster. It doesn't help when Prime puts out quotes (excuses) like "There's no way I can put new furniture in this beautiful home if we don't clean out the old furniture," 

Upshaw was new high quality furniture for CU and now he gone. I know Bullshit when I smell it. 

JonnyHintz

April 26th, 2023 at 8:48 PM ^

Colorado was SO bad last year, that I don’t really see this year being a complete train wreck by comparison. I certainly don’t agree with how it looks like he’s going about it, but Colorado really did need a fresh start from the top to the bottom. 
 

I don’t know that Primetime is the right person to do it and I don’t know that the method he’s taking is the right way to go about it. But I have a hard time saying it can get much worse than it was last year. 9 of their 11 losses last year were by 25+ points. I think they’ve brought in enough talent that, even with a simplified scheme, they’ll be a more competitive team than they were in 2022. Not good by any means, but I don’t think they’ll get absolutely blown out on a weekly basis either. 

 

St Joe Blues

April 27th, 2023 at 8:54 AM ^

I don’t know that Primetime is the right person to do it and I don’t know that the method he’s taking is the right way to go about it.

Not that I'm rooting against his success because I don't have a horse in this race, but I hope these methods don't work or you'll find other coaches mimicking Deion. The chaos that would create would make you long for the early days of the portal.

kyeblue

April 26th, 2023 at 9:29 PM ^

Cleaning house is one thing but having a portal transfer-in going back to portal after a couple of month is at different level, especially given that said player was a solid contributor on a CFP team in past two years, and has no record of any on-field and off-field problems. Prime looks bad now, no matter how elite a marketer he is.