Asked if he’s heard much from the Florida players on the team about their excitement of returning home this week, Colorado safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig laughed.

“Have I? Lord, these guys are ready to go back home,” the Alabama native said. “Everybody’s trying to trade tickets and everything. We got a million people coming to the game. So everybody excited to go down to Florida.”

On Saturday, the Colorado Buffaloes will visit Central Florida in the first Big 12 road game of the season. It’ll also be the Buffs’ first trip to the Sunshine State since Sept. 27, 2008, when they played Florida State in Jacksonville.

CU has 18 players who are from Florida high schools, plus a couple of others who went to IMG Academy in Florida. There are several others with Florida ties, including Travis Hunter.

Of course, CU head coach Deion Sanders is also from Florida, born and raised in Fort Myers, located about 3 hours southwest of Orlando. Several CU staff members are from the state, as well.

So, there’s no question a large contingent of Buffs are eager to play Saturday.

“Well, it’s good now, until you get down there and play,” Sanders said of the excitement much of his team feels about going home. “You gotta win. We don’t want to go down there and think it’s just a road trip, a field trip. We want to go down there and win.”

For Sanders, though, this game is meaningful because of his pride in his home state. The Buffs have made Florida a priority in recruiting because of the high value Sanders places on players from the state.

“That hunger, that thirst, that will, that want, that me against the world,” he said of what makes Florida players different. “That we don’t have the best of things, but we’re going to make the most of things. The way our parents came up, the desolate and turbulent the times that we’ve come through, the naysayers, the haters.

“Florida may have the least paid high school coaches in the country, but may produce the most athletes in the country. I don’t know how that happens. Even when it comes to facilities, I’m sure Texas is number one when it comes to facilities, and Florida’s still putting out dawgs.”

Saturday’s game offers CU a chance to show up well in front of Florida fans and recruits. UCF, of course, is looking to do the same. It’s a major recruiting weekend for the Knights, who also are welcoming Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff to the campus.

“We’re a young Power Four team that’s still growing, so it’s a great opportunity for our fan base to show what we’re about,” UCF head coach Gus Malzahn said. “It’s a great opportunity for our program, too, on a national stage and you’ve just got to seize the moment.”

That’s exactly what Coach Prime is hoping his team will do. Amid all of the excitement is the fact that the Buffs have a job to do as they seek a 2-0 start in Big 12 play.

“We’re practicing our butt off, trying to make sure we dot I’s and cross T’s, and we give it a valued effort,” he said. “It starts in practice. Everything starts in practice. I told the kids (Tuesday) morning, it’s like a vending machine. Whatever you put in, you’re going to get out. Unless you want to go to Vegas and put a little bit in and you expect to get a lot out but that’s called gambling where I’m from, and you don’t want to gamble with your career, with your life and with the time you have left. So our Florida boys are excited, but they know we’re on the job.”