CU Buffs football notes: Cormani McClain flashing talent even through adjustment period

5-6 minutes 7/22/2023
LAS VEGAS – There are growing pains that every freshman must go through in college football.
Not even the blue chip prospects are immune.
The Colorado Buffaloes are excited about the potential of true freshman cornerback Cormani McClain, a five-star recruit from Lakeland, Fla., but the adjustment to high altitude has been rough at times.
“Cormani’s funny,” CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders said at Pac-12 media day on Friday. “(Sophomore Travis Hunter), he calls Cormani, ‘Pukey.’ Cormani, he’s getting adjusted to the altitude real well. We have a bet like every day that he’s not gonna throw up.”
Once McClain settles in, the Buffs are excited about his potential. Rated the No. 1 cornerback in the country for the 2023 class, McClain chose CU over Miami and had about two dozen other scholarship offers.
“Cormani’s definitely a guy that has the ability,” defensive coordinator Charles Kelly said. “Of course, he’s got a lot of work to do to get to play at this level. Coach Prime will be the first to tell you, it’s not about what you do out there, it’s how you do it. We want to play a certain way. There’s a certain standard that we want to do and it’s our job as coaches to get these players to that place.”
Sanders is doing his part because he sees the potential in McClain to be an elite cornerback.
“I expect a lot of things out of Cormani because I’m gonna go at him each and every day in practice when I see him out there,” Sanders said. “He has no choice because I’m gonna keep trying, you know: go at him, go at him, see what he’s good at. He was a five star in high school, which doesn’t mean nothing now that you’re in college, but he’s got a good IQ. He’s got things that other guys don’t have. In his toolbox, he has a lot of things.
“I’m gonna keep working, keep throwing at him to understand what he’s good and what he’s bad at and try to exploit the things he’s bad at so he could be good at that stuff. So when other teams see that, he won’t have no weakness. Kinda like (Hunter), he don’t really got too many weaknesses at all.”
Great leaders
Kelly spent the past four years at Alabama, working under Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban, who is considered one of the greatest head coaches in college football history.
Kelly sees some similar traits between Saban and CU head coach Deion Sanders, still fairly new to college football, but a Pro Football Hall of Fame player.
“Both of them are very good men and the players know that,” Kelly said. “And they have high standards and they’re not going to lower their standards. That’s how you bring people up. When you set your standards (high), everybody’s got to come up with that standard.”
Saban has set an extremely high standard. In his 16 seasons with the Tide, Saban has gone 189-27 with six national championships. Alabama hasn’t finished lower than 11th in the final Associated Press rankings over the last 15 years and has been top five in 11 of those years. Saban also led LSU to a national title in 2003.
“Coaching for him, you see things, you look at things different than maybe you did before,” Kelly said. “He’s influenced so many coaches across this country. A lot of these guys that are head coaches right now, they wouldn’t be where they were at unless it was for coach Saban.”
Sanders has only three seasons of college coaching under his belt, but did lead Jackson State to back-to-back SWAC titles in 2021 and 2022. He has a ways to go to match Saban’s resume, but the ability to set a standard is similar, Kelly said.
“When the standard is the standard, understand you’re a leader, you bring people to that standard; that’s how you elevate your program,” Kelly said.
Notable
This summer, Shilo Sanders, the older brother of Shedeur, joined the Buffs was a transfer safety from Jackson State. Shedeur said his brother brings “energy” with the way he talks crazy on the field. “It’s always just his attitude and how he just goes about everything,” Shedeur said. “It’s just real competitive.” … Kelly said Sav’ell Smalls, a former five-star recruit who joined the Buffs as a transfer from Washington, has been impressive since arriving this summer. “He’s been one of the more impressive guys that we’ve had in,” Kelly said. “I’ve been really pleased with him since he’s been here. Sometimes a change is good. It’s just good for people.”