Colorado has hired Oklahoma analyst and former NFL starter Phil Loadholt as the program’s next offensive line coach.

BuffZone’s Brian Howell reported earlier this week that Deion Sanders was bringing in Loadholt to replace Bill O’Boyle, who left for the same position on Sean Lewis’s new San Diego State staff. Though nothing official has been announced by Colorado at the time of publication, Loadholt has updated his Twitter profile to reflect the move.

In a video posted by Thee Pregame Show, Sanders didn’t explicitly reference Loadholt by name, but mentioned he was already in the building working.

“A guy with plenty of experience, plenty wherewithal, able to communicate to all the kids from top to bottom,” Sanders said. “Track record is wonderful. Where he derived from is a tremendous Power Five, and I love everything about it. When he interviewed with me, he knocked it out of the park. He’s ready and prepared. As a matter of fact, he’s already in house.”

As a player, Loadholt spent two seasons at Garden City (Kan.) Community College before transferring to Oklahoma. In 2007, he was an All-Big 12 tackle. In 2008, he blocked for the Heisman Trophy winner (Sam Bradford) and a pair of 1,000-yard running backs as Oklahoma went 12-2 to reach the BCS national championship.

Loadholt was a second-round selection by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2009 NFL Draft and started all 89 games in his career in which he appeared. He retired in 2016 and moved into coaching shortly after.

He was on Central Florida’s staff from 2018-19, then spent two seasons as an analyst at Ole Miss. He has spent the last two years as an offensive analyst at Oklahoma.

Colorado’s offensive line struggled mightily in 2023. The Buffs gave up 56 sacks in 12 games — the second-worst mark among the 133 FBS programs. The run game never got going and Colorado struggled to protect Shedeur Sanders from defenses that knew CU was going to throw the football.

Sanders’ primary objective this offseason is rebuilding the Buffs at the line of scrimmage — a mission that is already off to a strong start, with CU recently securing a verbal pledge from the top-ranked tackle in the country.