Colorado and head coach Deion Sanders have found a new offensive coordinator.
BuffZone has confirmed a report that Sanders has hired Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion to become the new offensive coordinator of the Buffaloes.
The 38-year-old Marion replaces Pat Shurmur, whose two-year contract will expire next month.
Marion is known for developing the Go-Go offense, which relies on a strong run game and vertical passes.
Marion becomes the third coordinator in Sanders’ four seasons at CU. Sean Lewis was the coordinator in 2023, but had his play-calling duties stripped after eight games that season. Shurmur, who called plays the last four games of 2023, has been the OC the past two years. However, Shurmur had his play-calling duties stripped after eight games this year, in favor of Brett Bartolone.
This year, Marion led Sacramento State to a 7-5 record in his first campaign as a head coach. The Hornets were third in the Big Sky in scoring (33.8 points per game), fifth in total yards (425.6 per game) and led the conference in rushing (262.6). Sac State running back Rodney Hammond earned first-team all-conference honors after rushing for 1,216 yards.
Marion has moved around a lot in his career, but has moved up the coaching ranks.
Marion, who starred at Tulsa as a receiver before a brief stint with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, began his coaching career at various high schools from 2011-14.
In 2015, he was hired at Arizona State as a quality control analyst. The next year, he was the running backs coach at Oklahoma Baptist.
Marion landed his first coordinator job in 2017, at Howard, and served in that role for two seasons. After the 2018 season, Howard head coach Mike London took the head coaching job at William and Mary, and Marion followed him to be the offensive coordinator.
Jumping back into the FBS ranks, Marion worked as the receivers coach at Hawaii in 2020 and at Pittsburgh in 2021, where he mentored Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison.
In 2022, he became the receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Texas. While at Texas, he coached Xavier Worthy, who was second-team All-Big 12 as a sophomore.
Marion spent the next two seasons, 2023-24, as the offensive coordinator at UNLV. While Marion was at UNLV, the Rebels’ offense led the Mountain West in scoring in 2023 and was second in 2024.
Marion’s quarterback (Hajj-Malik Williams), running back (Jai’Den Thomas) and top receiver (Ricky White III) all earned all-MWC honors in 2024. In 2023, he helped UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava earn freshman of the year honors in the Mountain West.
A year ago, Marion was hired as the head coach at Sacramento State, and he turned around a team that went just 3-9 in 2024. On Wednesday, Marion and his Sac State staff signed the No. 1-rated recruiting class in the FCS.
At CU, Marion will be tasked with injecting life into an offense that struggled after losing stars Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter and others to the NFL this year.
The Buffs were 15th in the 16-team Big 12 in scoring, at 20.9 points per game, including just 18.1 points per game in conference play. The Buffs were also 15th in total offense (328.4 yards per game), 15th in rushing (125.6) and 13th in passing (202.8).
CU is likely to return promising young quarterback JuJu Lewis, however. A five-star recruit, Lewis made two starts late in the season. CU could also return star receivers Omarion Miller and Joseph Williams.
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