While Colorado’s outside shot at a Big 12 title game appearance remains slim, Friday’s regular-season finale against Oklahoma State will not be the last time the program’s two superstars will be in Buffaloes black and gold.
On Tuesday, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way phenom and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Travis Hunter will play in whatever bowl game the program is invited to and accepts, regardless of outcomes on the final weekend of the conference play. Asked directly, Deion Sanders said his son and Hunter, who each have been rumored to be in play for the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL Draft, will suit up.
“It’s not the last time you’re going to see them in a Buffs uniform,” Deion said.
Sanders doubled down by saying that Shedeur and Hunter have had a huge hand in changing the way Colorado football is viewed, not only nationally but from a fan base that was in a state of apathy before Sanders was hired in December 2022.
“These two, and the rest of the seniors, have done a wonderful job of getting us to where we are, instilling so much expectation in our fan base and expectation in ourselves,” he said. “So we’re going to fight and try and go out there and kick some butt and end this thing on the right note. And we’re going to go to a bowl game and end this thing on the right note, because our fans deserve the absolute best.”
Shedeur is ranked in the top 10 nationally in most of the major passing statistics in 2024. He has thrown for 3,488 yards, 30 touchdowns to go along with just seven interceptions. He was named a Davey O’Brien Award finalist, given to the country’s best quarterback each year, along with Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Miami’s Cam Ward.
Hunter is currently the Heisman Trophy frontrunner, having amassed 1,036 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns on 82 receptions, all team-highs for the Buffaloes. Defensively, Hunter has three interceptions and a forced fumble and is seventh on the team in total tackles. Along with being the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman, Hunter is also a finalist for other major awards including the Biletnikoff Award (top wide receiver) and Bednarik Award (best defensive player in the country), but was not named a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award given to the nation’s best defensive back.
Deion Sanders has made it known that during his prime as a star Florida State cornerback, he was determined to win the Thorpe Award, which he did in 1988. On Tuesday, Sanders was up in arms about Hunter being left off the finalist list.
“They just pretty much messed up all the integrity of the award and (Hunter) can have mine,” Sanders said. “Whoever’s voting down there, whoever’s bringing it home, thank you. Because I don’t even want mine now. God bless you.”
Colorado’s loss to Kansas last week leaves the program in need of several results to break its way to qualify for the Big 12 championship game on Saturday, Dec. 7. The Buffaloes must beat Oklahoma State at home Friday morning and need at least two of the three other first-place teams they’re currently tied with at 6-2 in conference play — Arizona State, BYU and Iowa State — to lose.
Colorado will be the first game played and Sanders and Co. will have to wait patiently to see how the rest of the results shake out. One thing is for certain: Sanders said he isn’t sitting back praying for all the other teams to lose.
“We had our opportunity,” he said. “We squandered it.”
(Photo of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
