Colorado Buffaloes associate athletic director Lance Carl went on “Back in Black,” a podcast hosted by 247Sports’ Matt McChesney. Carl spoke very high of Colorado director of player personnel, Darius Darden-Box.
“What we’re doing right now, I’ll give credit to Darius Darden-Box,” Carl said. “No stone unturned on the high school level, and I’ll give that to him…It’s special to play under the lights here. It’s special to play here in fall. It’s special to be at Folsom Field. It’s special to run behind the best mascot in college football. It’s special to have the fans right on you…When this place is rocking, it’s a tough place to play.”
Carl has been through some of the highs and lows of Colorado football. He has ties to the program from when he played for the Buffs’ football team back in the 1980’s. In 2013, he was named as an associate athletic director for business development and the sports supervisor for the Buffs’ football program.
Darius Darden-Box was named as Colorado’s director of player personnel in December of 2025. This move has already resulted in an improvement of Colorado’s recruiting class. The Buffs 2026 class was ranked towards the bottom of the Big 12, ranked No. 15 by Rivals. It was also one of the lowest ranked classes in all of power conference football at No. 67 in the country. Darden-Box is changing that.
Colorado’s 2027 class is currently ranked No. 36 in the country and No. 2 in the Big 12. They have received the commitments from nine recruits so far. The highest rated recruit in this Buffs’ class is four-star quarterback Andre Adams.
The Buffaloes have become a topic in the national conversation ever since Deion Sanders was hired as head coach prior to the 2023 season. Colorado had a disappointing 1-11 season that resulted in the of Coach Prime.
With the addition of Sanders came attention. With Sanders as coach, the Buffs immediatly became among the most watched teams in the country. On a consistent basis, Colorado was getting national television slots. In 2023, Colorado went 4-8 in year one of Sanders. Things took off even more in 2024.
In 2024, Sanders led the Buffs to nine wins and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl. Quartrback Shedeur Sanders was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Cornerback/wide recevier Traavis Hunter then won the Heisman Trophy. Both ended up being selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.
In 2025, Coach Prime and the Buffaloes were not able to fill that void left by Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, and other key contributors. They ended up going 3-9. Colorado will look to turn it around in 2026.
A reason for Colorado fans to feel optimistic about this is that Coach Prime already turned a four win team to a nine win team in one year. He’ll aim to do so again in 2026. Colorado kicks off the year against Georgia Tech on Sept. 3.
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