In his Colorado head coaching debut, Deion Sanders will be tasked with a matchup against defending Big 12 champion TCU. However, TCU coach Sonny Dykes will also have a unique challenge because of the transformation of Colorado’s roster in the wake of Sanders’ arrival.

Colorado will sport a virtually brand-new team in the inaugural campaign for Sanders, who most recently coached at Jackson State and will be joined by his son, heralded quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Dykes spoke with On3Sports’ Andy Staples about his approach to the much anticipated season opener.


“You start with scheme and as you said you’ve got to watch the coordinators and kind of where those guys were and what they did before. Then you try to watch the guys that are going to be important players,” Dykes said. “Obviously, Shedeur was at Jackson State, so we’ll spend a lot of time watching his tape and trying to evaluate what he can do well and what he can’t do, what he struggles with.”

While honing in on your opponent is important, Dykes also stressed a need to set positive habits leading up to the opener.

“The important thing for us honestly and I think it’s always this way going into the first game, you have to prepare for your opponent but really more than anything else you have to just prepare to go play well,” Dykes said. “You’re going to see things that you don’t expect. It’s going to happen no matter who you play. People are always going to make changes in the offseason and make adjustments. This is going to be different.”

With so many departures from Colorado’s roster, Dykes is bypassing any of their tape from last season.

“We’re not even going to bother watching Colorado’s film from last year. There’s no point in doing that,” Dykes said. “New schemes, new players, new everything. So it’ll be a complete challenge for us and something that’ll be different. ”

Colorado vs. TCU is slated for Sept. 2 at noon ET and will be televised on FOX.