Few people know better than Colorado head coach Deion Sanders what elite cornerback play should look like.
Sanders is, after all, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, and arguably the best cornerback to ever play the game of football. That’s why it’s surprising to see that one of the glaring issues for the Buffaloes this season has been poor play at cornerback.
“We gotta do a much better job on the back end, we do,” Sanders said Saturday after a 24-21 loss that dropped the Buffs to 2-3, 0-2 in the Big 12.
CU’s pass defense faces its toughest test of the season so far on Saturday with a visit to TCU (5:30 p.m., Fox). CU has yet to play a top-30 passing offense, but the Horned Frogs rank 12th in the country in passing yards per game (320.8).
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover is sixth nationally in passing (310.5 per game). He has two of the top five receivers in the Big 12, in terms of yards per game, and a third who ranks 12th.
Statistically, the Buffs haven’t been dreadful against the pass. They rank 63rd nationally (out of 136 teams) in allowing 207.6 yards per game through the air. But they have yet to play against a top-notch passer and have still managed to struggle in coverage.
Per Pro Football Focus, there have been 58 cornerbacks in the Big 12 who have played at least 20% of the coverage snaps for their respective teams this year. CU has five corners on that list, three of which rank among the bottom five for coverage grades: Preston Hodge (No. 54), Makari Vickers (No. 55) and Teon Parks (last, at No. 58).
RJ Johnson is CU’s top-rated corner on that list, at No. 22, but he’s played just four snaps in the last three games because of injuries. DJ McKinney comes in at No. 46.
“They gotta play better. All of them gotta play better,” Sanders said after another disappointing loss on Saturday against BYU. “We gotta do a better job of preparing them and coaching them.”
BYU’s Bear Bachmeier threw for only 179 yards, but he tossed two touchdown passes to Chase Roberts, who was wide open in the end zone both times.
In addition to the passing yards allowed are the penalties that occur in coverage, and CU has racked up a lot.
The Buffs have been penalized seven times for pass interference, which matches their total from the entire 13-game season in 2024 and is just one shy of the total from the 12-game 2023 campaign (eight).
In addition to the pass interference flags, two holding penalties have come against cornerbacks in coverage.
Late in the first half on Saturday, CU was leading 14-3, but McKinney was flagged for holding and Hodge for pass interference on back-to-back plays. Those penalties advanced BYU 22 yards and helped to set up the first touchdown pass to Roberts.
“We’re getting penalties on deep balls,” safety Tawfiq Byard said after Saturday’s game. “As a DB, you know it’s next play mentality, but we just got to keep repping it in practice. Eyes, feet, hands. You get yourself in the right position, you make plays on the ball. That’s our job. As a defensive back room, we take full accountability on what happened tonight, and we know we gotta go out there and improve.”
It’s been an ongoing issue for Sanders and his staff.
Coming into the year, the Buffs felt confident in McKinney at one corner spot and Hodge at nickel, but neither one has had the type of year expected of them. The other corner spot has been a revolving door between Johnson, Parks and Vickers.
That group has to get better soon as the Buffs face most of the Big 12’s top quarterbacks in the next few weeks: Hoover, Iowa State’s Rocco Becht, Utah’s Devon Dampier, Arizona’s Noah Fifita and Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt.
“It starts at the beginning (of the play),” Sanders said of the improvement needed. “You’ve got to have focus. We talked about focusing and finishing before the game. We talked about it at halftime. Pretty much, we told them what was going to happen.”
It hasn’t been all bad for the corners. CU is second in the Big 12 in pass breakups, with 22. Hodge (five), McKinney (four) and safety Carter Stoutmire (five) all rank in the top six of the conference pass breakups.
Notable
On Monday, the Big 12 announced that CU’s game against Iowa State on Oct. 11 will kick off at 1:30 p.m. MT at Folsom Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. … CU has opened as a 13.5-point underdog at TCU. … Two former CU cornerbacks rank in the top 20 nationally by PFF for pass coverage grades: Florida’s Cormani McClain (10th) and Tennessee’s Colton Hood (18th).
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