Colorado retires jerseys of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders ahead
Colorado formally retired the numbers of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders on Saturday.The 2 likely
first-round draft choices in the 2025 NFL Draft were honored in an event at the Buffaloes’ spring game. The 2 players each invested two seasons in Boulder and assisted Colorado end up being nationally appropriate once again after the arrival of coach Deion Sanders from Jackson State.Advertisement It’s difficult to quibble with Hunter’s jersey retirement. He was electrical in his time at Colorado and ended up being the school’s second Heisman winner, thanks to a phenomenal 2024 season. Hunter was ubiquitous on both sides of the ball as a cornerback and wide receiver, and was Colorado’s leading receiver and leading defensive back.Sanders was a productive quarterback, especially in 2024. He completed 74% of his passes and tossed for over 4,100 yards with 37 TD passes. He finished eighth in the Heisman voting. However, he wasn’t an All-American, nor did he win any significant awards. Is his number getting retired if he isn’t the coach’s kid?”Let’s get the elephant out of the room. I don’t want to speak about this too long,”Deion Sanders said at a news conference. “I’m going to just talk briefly and let it go. We’re speaking about Shedeur, we ain’t speaking about no one else. If his last name wasn’t Sanders, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Only reason we’re having this conversation is his last name is Sanders. OK? That’s it.” There’s been many things accomplished at this university expeditiously, it’s boggled the mind.
And I believe we ought to be appreciative and we should be thankful. We have a room loaded with terrific individuals who covers us, and I do not know if you all remained in this room two or 3 years back. I indicate really couple of. It’s a new day. We’re doing things a little bit different.” Deion’s right. But not in the way he believes. There isn’t a conversation to instantly retire the varieties of Kyle McCord
at Syracuse and Jaxson Dart at Ole Miss. Both quarterbacks tossed for more lawns than Sanders performed in 2024, and both groups won more games than the Buffaloes did.Advertisement Even if you believe Sanders is the best quarterback in Colorado history after throwing for more than 4,000 lawns in a winning season, what’s the rush
to retire his jersey
? It’s not like the Buffaloes won the Big 12 or smelled the College Football Playoff. They didn’t even make it to the conference title game.Former Steelers and Buffaloes linebacker Chad Brown has questioned why Colorado was moving so rapidly to retire the players’ numbers.Saturday’s jersey retirements are the fifth and 6th jersey retirements in Colorado history. Before the weekend,
only Byron White, Joe Romig, Bobby Anderson and Rashaan Salaam had actually been honored with retired numbers. Salaam had actually been Colorado’s only Heisman winner
until Hunter picked up the award in December. Salaam rushed for over 2,000 lawns and 24 TDs in 1994 as Colorado went 11-1. Ad However even Salaam’s number wasn’t retired immediately. The school didn’t retire Salaam’s number till 2017 after his death. Salaam died by suicide in 2016 after he was discovered dead from a gunshot wound in a Boulder park.The 2024 Buffaloes went 9-4 and lost the Alamo Bowl to BYU after a frustrating 2023. It was the very best season for the school because 2016, when Colorado went 10-4 and also appeared in the Alamo Bowl. But it fades in contrast to the 1990 season, when Colorado went 11-1-1 and was stated the Associated Press nationwide champs after a 10-9 win over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.No one from that group has a jersey retired, consisting of longtime NFL assistant Eric Bieniemy. He rushed for 1,627 yards and 17 TDs because nationwide title-winning season and had actually rushed for 1,243 lawns in 1988. Bieniemy finished third in the Heisman voting in 1990 behind Ty Detmer and Rocket Ismail.A year after Bieniemy left Stone following that nationwide title, Kordell Stewart arrived. Stewart was one of the most dynamic players in college football throughout his time at Colorado. He threw for over 2,000 lawns and hurried for over 600 lawns in 1994 as Colorado went 11-1 and ended the season at No. 3 in the AP Top 25. If you ask long time Colorado fans if Stewart or Shedeur Sanders had a larger impact with the Buffaloes, you’re most likely to get more reactions in favor of Stewart.Advertisement Stewart’s number isn’t retired either. Nor is WR Michael Westbrook’s number. He was an All-American in 1994. If transferring to retire Hunter’s and Sanders ‘numbers so right after their professions are over is a newly found push by the athletic department to quickly honor essential contributors, it’s a noble venture. Colorado waited too long to retire Salaam’s number.But if that’s really the case for Colorado, why aren’t Hunter and Sanders having their numbers retired alongside Stewart, Bieniemy and others? Football is, after all, a team game, and Colorado has had far more effective seasons
than it did last year.Sanders was outstanding in 2024. His season should not be lessened. But it likewise should not be exaggerated, either. Honoring a player with no major awards from a team that didn’t even get to 10 wins while others who led Colorado to the
finest seasons in program history aren’t provided the exact same recognition is recency bias at its finest.