According to reports from USA Today, Deion Sanders and the Colorado football program have been hit with minor NCAA recruiting violations.
The infractions stem from Deion Sanders mentioning 2025 quarterback recruit Julian “JuJu” Lewis during a livestream of his weekly coaches' show. Since NCAA rules prohibit coaches from publicly discussing recruits before they officially sign, this put Colorado in violation.
In response, the Colorado athletic department self-reported the violation and quickly took action. The episodes in question were removed from the internet, and Sanders, along with the coaching staff, underwent additional rules education. As a result, the program will face a reduction of four in-person recruiting days during the Spring 2025 contact period.
To prevent similar issues moving forward, the school has also implemented new controls on the weekly coaches' show, which will no longer be livestreamed, allowing for content review before publication.
Despite the violations, it’s unlikely that Colorado will face any significant penalties other than the reduction in recruiting days for Spring 2025. These kinds of minor infractions are relatively common in college football, and since the school acted swiftly to address the issue, the NCAA is expected to view their response favorably. Self-reporting and corrective measures typically help programs avoid harsher consequences.
According to USA Today, this isn’t the only violation Colorado has self-reported recently. The program logged a total of six minor infractions in 2024, including an incident where a recruit attended an event that slightly exceeded NCAA entertainment spending limits, and another where a recent signee interacted with players during a recruiting dead period. In both cases, the school took corrective actions to ensure compliance.