Deion Sanders flips elite five-star recruit to Colorado

Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Deion Sanders flips elite five-star CB recruit from Miami to Colorado

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 1/19/23

Cormani McClain has the chance to be an elite college cornerback, and for quite some time, the Miami Hurricanes thought he'd be making his mark in Coral Gables.

Then Deion Sanders became the head football coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. He told the top recruits in the nation that he wasn't hard to find and that Colorado's doors were wide-open if they wanted to be coached by him.

McClain apparently took "Coach Prime" up on his offer because the five-star cornerback from Lakeland, Florida, has decided to leave his home state and go out west to play for Colorado.

Primetime is taking over college football.
#2 recruit Cormani McClain has committed to Colorado! @DeionSanders @mworthofgame @Wallo267 @gilliedakid @CormaniMcClain2
pic.twitter.com/GwPPSbndRy
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 20, 2023

To say that this is a big commitment for Colorado would be an understatement. McClain is a 6-foot-2, 165-pound corner who is considered the consensus top recruit at his position in the nation. He's also considered a top-15 recruit nationally, per the 247Sports composite, so the Buffaloes are getting a game-changer.

This is the second recruiting cycle in a row that Sanders has landed the top cornerback in the class and stole that player from a supposed blue-blood program in the process. Travis Hunter was not just the top cornerback in the nation but the consensus top overall recruit in the 2022 recruiting class. He committed to and played for Sanders at Jackson State after being originally committed to Florida State for almost two years.

"I play DB and Coach Prime is the best DB. I wanna be in the same shoes, same predicament, gold jacket, everything," McClain told 247Sports' Steve Wiltfong regarding his commitment to Colorado. "Get coached by the best DB. Why not?"

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