College football may not have a team with bigger shoes to fill than Colorado. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and wide receiver/cornerback (and Heisman winner) Travis Hunter are in the NFL now, and the two former college stars leave three giant roster spots open.
Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders acknowledged the work his team has to do to fill those gaps this year during his press conference at Big 12 media days on Wednesday. And while no one would argue that there could be addition by subtraction with two players like Sanders and Hunter, he still believes that Colorado as a whole will be better than the squad that went 9–4 in 2024–25.
“Nobody can fill those shoes. ... They were great players; we have a better team,” Sanders said during an ESPN appearance from Big 12 media days. “There’s a difference between great players and a great team. We have a better team, but we can never replace those type of players.
“It may take three players on offense to replace a Travis Hunter. It may take two players to replace a Shedeur Sanders, and that’s what we brought here."
Replacing a two-way player like Travis Hunter is certainly something that Colorado will try to do by committee. As for Sanders, his father brought a pair of quarterbacks to represent the school at media days, neither of whom was on the roster a year ago: veteran Kaidon Salter, a transfer from Liberty, and true freshman Julian Lewis.
The two are embroiled in one of the Big 12's top quarterback battles and that continues this week in Frisco, Texas.
Overall, though, Sanders believes that the coaching continuity from last year to this year will have a major impact, with offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur returning for his second full year in that job and defensive coordinator Robert Livingston back for year two as well.
"We feel like we have a better defense for sure," Sanders said. "A better offense, more understanding of the schemes collectively offensively and defensively because each coach, they’re in their second year in the schemes now.”
Colorado jumped from 4–8 to 9–4 a year ago, one of the biggest improvements in the sport in Coach Prime's second year. Another step forward of that magnitude would put the Buffaloes in the College Football Playoff conversation, something that would be a major surprise the year after the departures of Sanders and Hunter, but based on what Deion Sanders said Wednesday, those are the expectations in Boulder.
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