Can Deion Sanders build elite CU Buffs offensive line from portal?

Hey, if it worked for Uga XI, it’ll fly for Ralphie VI, right? Fun fact: The Georgia Bulldogs started a redshirt freshman, Earnest Greene III, at left tackle last fall.

So Geoff Schwartz will concede that Jordan Seaton might be ready to kick tails and flip pancakes for the CU Buffs only a half-year or so removed from the prep ranks. But then the former NFL and Oregon lineman has you take a closer look at the Dawgs’ depth chart from late last fall. The number of Georgia starters who landed in Athens via the transfer portal: None.

“When the plan is that you have five new offensive linemen (in Boulder), and it means you’ve got four or five new backups,” Schwartz, now an analyst with FOX Sports, explained, “it’s a lot of moving parts.”

Another fun fact: Schwartz voted on the 2023 Joe Moore Award, presented annually to the best offensive line unit in the country. The four finalists for the honor — Georgia, LSU, Oregon and Washington — last season had something else in common besides quality beef up front: Continuity.

Among their 20 collective starters going into the final week of the regular season, only two, one each with the Tigers and Ducks, had transferred into the program after playing the ’22 campaign somewhere else. Which meant 90% of those starting spots were held by linemen who’d already spent more than 10 months on their respective roster together.

Quarterbacks can be portaled in at the last minute. Wideouts and cornerbacks are 1-on-1 specialists, free agents and free spirits by nature who live and die on their matchups out on the boundaries.

But the best offensive lines in college football, historically, are grown and developed, like a plant or a garden. They’re watered and nurtured over time — not patched together in a hurry.

We mention this, of course, because as of late last week, the Buffs’ projected three-deep this fall could feature as many as 11 offensive linemen who weren’t with the team last November.

Now after watching the 2023 CU line surrender 56 sacks Buffs faithful are probably down with a complete overhaul. After all, Shedeur Sanders can’t park a Rolls-Royce if he’s busy lying on his backside, right? This is going to work, right? Right?

“No,” Schwartz told me earlier this month. “I know their offensive line wasn’t good last year … five new guys, along with a true freshman at left tackle? It’s a lot of turnover. And it’s a lot of new guys.”

The Buffs are expected to start Seaton, the country’s No. 1 prep offensive line recruit, at the most glamorous position on the unit. CU in the spring slotted newcomers Kahlil Benson, a transfer from Indiana, and Justin Mayers, formerly of UTEP, into the starting five. Another Big Ten expatriate, tackle Ethan Boyd, escaped the dumpster fire Mel Tucker left at Michigan State, starting three games for the Spartans last fall and appearing in all 12.

Oh, Schwartz has seen CU’s numbers, all right. And his skepticism is rooted in simple math. Basically, more new bodies plus less time together on the field plus fewer reps at full-contact speed equals risk for Coach Prime.

“And you have less practice time now, you have less hitting time now. I think it’s really hard to develop a really stable offensive line,” said Schwartz, whose nine-season NFL journey included stints with the Panthers, Chiefs and Giants.

“Part of developing a good offensive line is spending time together. I was fortunate at Oregon, we had six guys in my class along the offensive line and we spent just about every second together. When it comes to playing together, we ended up playing really well … our right guard, our center, our backups, were all guys I knew.”

Many of the Buffs’ new blockers have — well, a summer to learn how to work with one another, on and off the field. CU, per 247Sports.com, landed either enrollees, hard commits, or letters of intent from three non-portal offensive linemen in the Class of 2024 but didn’t have any in the fold as of late Sunday night for either the Class of 2025 or ’26.