Colorado Football first-year head coach Deion Sanders received a vote of confidence from school athletic director Rick George, following a bizarre month of April where dozens of players entered the transfer portal.

“I have confidence in him and his staff and they know what they're doing,” George told ESPN on Thursday following the Pac-12's spring meetings. “He's been very honest and forthright. He's been very open about it publicly and privately. He's trying to build a winner at Colorado, and this is his way to do it.”

Since Sanders made it clear that players should be prepared to transfer, an astounding 57 have entered the NCAA transfer portal — that's “an unprecedented amount in a new era of transfer rules,” wrote ESPN's Heather Dinich on Thursday.

71 total players have entered the portal since August after an abysmal 1-11 season last year, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

“Since the portal's inception in 2018, Colorado by far has had the most players enter, as Arkansas State had the second-most with 50. No other school has had more than 48,” wrote Dinich.

George explained that some players wanted to leave the program following spring practices, but others were due to an NCAA rule that allows first-year head coaches to cut scholarship players.

“When [Sanders] first came in, he said, ‘There's a lot of people here who may not be here,' because he evaluated and looked at the talent on our team,” George told ESPN. “He's just publicly stated it, where a lot of people don't. We're not the first to do this. The NCAA rule says you can have those discussions. If a student-athlete wants to stay, they can stay. The university has to pay for them, they don't count on your scholarship limits and they're not on the team.”

Colorado Football is still expected to have 67 scholarship players under Deion Sanders in the fall, and Rick George is confident in the football coach to turn things around.

“Coach is doing what he thinks is best for this program,” George said. “I support that.”