Colorado lost two incredibly important pieces to its football team from last year. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and WR/CB Travis Hunter are now off to the NFL, leaving Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders with what seemed like a team void of top talent.
Sanders doesn’t buy into that belief, however.
When asked ahead of Colorado’s Week 1 matchup against Georgia Tech about what he thought of his new roster, now without Shedeur and Hunter, he couldn’t have been more excited.
“We understand what we have and we’re excited about that,” Sanders said. “We don’t think we lost, we think we gained. Sure, there were a couple athletes that were phenomenal, but I think we have a better team.”
The Colorado coach did acknowledge that losing two players the caliber of his son and last year’s Heisman Trophy winner doesn’t go unnoticed, but he insisted this is just another challenge he will overcome, like the others that came before when he first arrived in Boulder.
“First it was the challenge of coming to this level. Could we change the game? We did,” he said. “Then, can you consistently do it with the players you have, can you win? We did. Now it’s, ‘Can you do it without Travis and Shedeur?’ It’s always gonna be a challenge and I don’t mind that. I stand up to those. I’ve been challenged my whole darn life. But this isn’t about me. This is about the kids we’ve assembled. And we will.”
Sanders’ biggest roster change comes in replacing his son at quarterback. Colorado recently named Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter its new starter. He beat out true freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis for the job.
Entering his third season with the Buffs, Sanders is 13-12. But before he arrived, the program was in a state of disarray, having not posted a winning season in eight years. Colorado finished 9-4 last season, earning its first top-25 finish since 2016.
It’s tough to say what Colorado could finish this season.
