BOULDER, CO – Colorado confirmed for the first time Saturday, Oct. 3, the identities of the three players who were removed from the team by football coach Deion Sanders after a 41-7 loss at Northwestern Sept. 19.
All are defensive backs who transferred onto the team this year from other colleges and were kicked off the team for undisclosed “conduct detrimental to the team.” The players are:
Jah Jah Boyd from Indiana.
Paul Omodia from James Madison.
Justin Eaglin from Lamar.
Their names were deleted from Colorado’s roster before Colorado hosted Texas Tech in a homecoming game at Folsom Field Oct. 3. Their biographies also were deleted from the Colorado website, and a Colorado spokesperson confirmed their removal to USA TODAY Sports.
Of the three, Boyd made the biggest impact at Colorado in his short tenure with the Buffaloes. Pro Football Focus rated him as the highest-graded safety in Week 2 of the season after leading the team with nine tackles in a 52-21 win against Weber State Sept. 12.
Sanders even praised him after that game.
“Jah Jah is the kind of kid that plays with passion, practices with passion,” Sanders said then. “He plays hard, practices hard sometimes. He goes a little too far sometimes, but you could count on him to give everything he has. He’s very emotional. But he plays with that, and I love that about him. I don’t want him to change a thing.”
Something did change about a week later. After the Northwestern loss, Sanders said he removed three players but didn’t identify them. He called the players “knuckleheads that I didn’t want to poison the team.”
He said they weren’t coming back when asked on his weekly “Coach Prime’s Playbook” show, which aired last week.
“No,” he said. “It’s a wrap. It’s done. When it’s detrimental, it’s detrimental. Yeah, you can’t have that lingering around.”
Representatives for the players declined comment or didn’t return a message seeking comment. Sanders downplayed the dismissals last week after his team lost at Baylor, 23-13.
“This is not the first time that we excused players off the team,” Sanders said. “That has happened every year, every single year, and I don’t think we the only ones. I’m sorry. I’m old-school. I’m gonna pay you to act a fool?”
Colorado is 2-2 heading into the Texas Tech game after finishing 3-9 last year.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colorado confirms identities of three players kicked off team by Deion Sanders