Colorado is adding more depth to the back of the defense.

On Saturday, former Vanderbilt and Miami safety Savion Riley announced his verbal commitment to the Buffaloes to play for head coach Deion Sanders.

Riley, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound redshirt sophomore, played the previous two seasons at Vanderbilt. He transferred to Miami in December and went through spring practices with the Hurricanes before re-entering the transfer portal on April 29.

Adding Riley gives the Buffs some needed experience and young depth at safety.

The Buffs have seniors Shilo Sanders and Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig as projected starters, with seniors Travis Jay and Herman Smith III as reserves. Sophomore Carter Stoutmire and redshirt freshman RJ Johnson — a recent transfer from Arkansas — were the only underclassmen on scholarship.

After redshirting at Vanderbilt in 2022, Riley appeared in eight games (two starts) last season, playing 343 snaps. He was very productive in those snaps, recording 48 tackles, which ranked fifth on the team despite being a reserve who missed four games.

This spring, Riley worked with the first-team defense at Miami, according to 247Sports. It’s unclear why Riley left Miami after just one spring, but the Hurricanes did lose the position coach that recruited him to Coral Gables, as Jahmile Addae took a job with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

Coming out of Kennesaw Mountain (Ga.) High School in 2022, Riley was a three-star prospect who had 16 offers. He chose Vanderbilt over Duke.

As a senior in high school, he was first-team all-state after recording 50 tackles and an interception. He also caught 40 passes for 644 yards and eight touchdowns on offense.