Others offered 'crazy' money, but Deion Sanders got his QB anyway. Here's how

Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY Tue, April 14, 2026 at 11:17 PM UTC

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Coach Deion Sanders has landed his newest quarterback of the future for Colorado, this time for the freshman class of 2027. But it didn’t happen because Sanders had the most money to offer this recruit for his name, image and likeness (NIL). To the contrary, Sanders got a commitment from Andre Adams in Tennessee on April 14 despite not being the highest bidder and despite having several young quarterbacks on the Colorado roster already.

Sanders also didn’t visit Adams off-campus unlike other coaches. He doesn’t do that at all.

So how did Sanders pull this off? USA TODAY Sports asked Adams' father Kenny, who also coaches his son at Antioch High School in metro Nashville. His answers show how Sanders knows how to reel in a top high school recruit even though he’s known to go heavy on transfer players from other colleges instead.

Colorado wasn’t highest bidder for Andre Adams

Adams chose Colorado over Florida State, Virginia Tech, Oregon and Kentucky.

“There were other schools that offered a crazy amount of money,” said Andre Adams’ father Kenny, who also is his son’s offensive coordinator. “But it just wasn’t the best fit at some of these schools. That wasn’t the case. Colorado wasn’t the highest bidder. But they’ll take care of him.”

Adams declined to say what teams offered his son.

How will Andre Adams fit into Colorado’s quarterback room?

Colorado has three scholarship quarterbacks already, each with at least three years of college eligibility left starting in 2026. Redshirt freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis is the presumed starter for 2026 and has four seasons of eligibility remaining. Like Adams, Lewis was a four-star recruit out of high school.

How will that work out?

“He saw it, and he feels like he can compete,” Kenny Adams said. “He’s coming to play. He’s not going there to sit behind anybody… He respects everybody else, but that’s why he’s coming. He saw himself in that room. He saw himself in that offense playing.”

Deion Sanders didn’t visit Andre Adams in Tennessee

Sanders doesn’t make off-campus visits unlike other head coaches. But his assistant coaches visited him, including then-offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur in 2024, when Adams was a freshman. Colorado was the first Power Four conference team to offer him a scholarship, his father said, which meant something to him.

Then when Sanders replaced Shurmur with Brennan Marion after the season, that resonated with Kenny and Andre Adams, too. Kenny Adams said he’s been studying Marion’s Go-Go offensive for years. His son feels he fits right into it as a dual-threat quarterback who set a Tennessee high school record with 714 yards in one game last season: 507 yards passing and 207 rushing.

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They met with Marion and Sanders on campus in Boulder in early April.

It came down to the “feel he had,” Kenny Adams said. “It didn’t feel like anywhere else. It was authentic with everybody that we met.”

That included Sanders.

"We got in there and talked for about an hour or so," Adams said of Sanders. "He was just talking. It wasn't a big recruiting pitch or nothing. We're literally just having a genuine conversation. I feel like that's something that stood out to me. He was just super real."

Andre Adams announces his commitment to the University of Colorado during a ceremony at Antioch High School on Tuesday, April, 14, 2026 in Antioch.Andre Adams is a program builder

Colorado had a down year at quarterback in 2025, when the Buffaloes finished 3-9. Andre Adams is a three-year starter in high school and took over a program that went 0-10 in 2022, the same year Colorado was 1-11 prior to Sanders’ arrival.

Adams led Antioch to a 10-2 record in 2025, its first 10-win season since 1958.

“From last to first, that’s the kid he is,” his father said. He said his son “has the same mindset. He’s helped rebuild a program before.”

Adams plans to sign with Colorado during the early signing period in December and then enroll in January. NCAA rules prevent Sanders from publicly speaking about unsigned recruits, but he did appear to celebrate the news with a post on social media shortly after Adams announced his decision to commit to Colorado.

“Lawd JESUS!” Sanders posted. Sanders just concluded his fourth spring practice season in Boulder and starts his fifth football season Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech.

Contributing: Harrison Campbell, Nashville Tennessean

Follow Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Deion Sanders landed QB recruit Andre Adams to Colorado football

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