The curious case of Cormani McClain saw a new development on Wednesday. Colorado’s star freshman cornerback appeared to be getting significant reps with the first-team defense during practice.
Coach Prime was also coaching him individually during the team portion of the day.
It will be interesting to see what Deion Sanders chooses to do with McClain against Arizona on Saturday. McClain is too talented to keep on the sideline, but he has not shown consistency on the field.
As a result, his freshman season has been bizarre.
Cormani McClain was a five-star prospect in the college football recruiting Class of 2023 and the top-ranked player at his position. Although all signs pointed toward him playing for Miami, Deion Sanders flipped him to Colorado— not unlike how he flipped Travis Hunter Jr.
Despite the hype surrounding McClain, his playing time has been practically nonexistent thus far.
It got to the point that Coach Prime called him out publicly with a very blunt message early in the season. McClain proceeded to play possessed against USC, which earned him his first-career start.
However, his play against Arizona State was so poor that he got benched.
Not long thereafter, Colorado lost to Stanford. McClain did not play in the loss even though the defense was struggling. It didn’t make a lot of sense.
McClain finally returned to the field against Oregon State last weekend and looked pretty good during his limited playing time, which came entirely during the fourth quarter. He even recorded two tackles.
There has been a lot of chatter surrounding McClain, and all of the questions ask why he isn’t on the field for a Buffaloes defense that can’t really get worse with the addition of a five-star corner. Some people expect him to get frustrated with the situation and transfer.
He seemingly shut down that idea in a recent post on Instagram. McClain alluded to his understanding that playing time is earned, not given.
One day later, Cormani McClain was on the field practicing with the first team.
The speculation continues… Will he start again this weekend?!