Colorado has been about luring the best and brightest to Boulder since Deion Sanders took over, and the Buffs’ wishlist for their next defensive line coach appears to be no exception.

According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, Sanders is targeting Houston defensive line coach Brian Early for the same position on his staff at CU. Early has been with the Cougars since 2019, during which he has coached five all-conference selections in four seasons.

The Buffs are looking to replace Patrick Hill, a former LSU analyst hired to Sanders’ staff earlier this offseason. Hill was expected to serve as the program’s defensive tackles coach before being lured away by the Minnesota Vikings earlier this week.

Over the past two seasons, Houston has produced 192 tackles for loss under Early’s stewardship — a mark that ranks 11th nationally and first in the state of Texas. Houston’s 74 sacks in that timeframe rank 14th nationally and, again, first in the Longhorn state.

Houston finished the 2022 season ranked 11th nationally with 7.2 TFLs a game, doing so for the majority of the season without a leader in the front seven. Derek Parish became the only Houston player since 2000 to record at least 8.5 TFLs and 5.0 sacks through the school’s first four games. In 2021, Houston ended the year fifth nationally in sacks (45 total) and 15th in run defense efficiency (3.4 yards per carry).

CU has ranked last in the Pac-12 in sacks in each of the last two seasons.

Under Early’s guidance, Houston has also sent two defensive linemen to the NFL Draft, with Logan Hall begin taken with the first pick of the second round in 2022 and Payton Turner being selected with the 28th overall pick in the first round in 2021.

CU hasn’t had a defensive lineman taken in the NFL Draft since 2017, and it hasn’t had one go in the first two rounds since 2003.