Shedeur Sanders knows his game can get better. He also knows that last year was a new challenge he had to navigate.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Colorado’s star quarterback said. “But it’s just like, I honestly don’t really care about the opinions of people that haven’t really played the game. I really don’t, because it’s like you could tell me, ‘Oh your footwork is bad.’ You get out there and get sacked 50 times and you tell me how you feel. You tell me how your footwork is going to be.
“When hits start adding up, when real pressure gets applied, then some things gotta change and you’ve got to find solutions.”
Leading up to preseason camp, which starts Monday, BuffZone.com has previewed each position group for the CU football team and in this final installment, we look at the quarterbacks.
Sanders was sacked a school-record 52 times last year, tied for the most in the country. Despite that, he set a single-season CU record with 3,230 passing yards and tossed 27 touchdown passes, which was one shy of the record set by Sefo Liufau in 2014. He also posted the best single-season completion percentage (69.3) in CU history and threw just three interceptions in 430 attempts.
Considered one of the top quarterbacks in the country this season and projected as top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Sanders said he has a lot more room to grow.
“In my game, year after year after year, even (future Hall of Famer) Tom Brady would tell you that he always improved in an area,” Sanders said. “You can never be your full potential you could be like. You’re always gonna have room for improvement but I’m nowhere close to my ceiling. That’s the difference when I say me and a lot of players is I’m not close to my ceiling at all. I’ve got a long way to go.”
Certainly, improvement on the offensive line would help Sanders tremendously. The Buffs re-tooled the line in the offseason in an effort to drastically reduce the 56 sacks they allowed last year (backup Ryan Staub was sacked four times).
Going through offseason workouts, Sanders said he believes the offensive and defensive lines are the most improved areas, followed closely, he said, by “myself.”
An improved Sanders could make the Buffs one of the most electric offenses in the Big 12, if not all of college football. The Buffs averaged a modest 28.2 points per game last year, which was just 60th nationally, but CU’s best full-season average since 2016.
After starring at Jackson State for two years before coming to CU, Sanders said he now has a “lay of the land” in playing at the power conference level, and that, alone, should pay off this year.
“We’re in great hands,” he said.
The Buffs hope to be in better shape behind Sanders this year, too.
In 2023, CU’s only backups were a pair of true freshmen and a pair of walk-ons – none of which had ever taken a snap in a Division I game. One of those true freshmen, Staub, returns and he gained some valuable experience last year.
Staub replaced the injured Sanders in CU’s finale at Utah and nearly led the Buffs to an upset. He completed 17-of-24 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown in that game.
In the spring, Staub ran the second-team offense, seemingly securing the No. 2 job behind Sanders. He’ll be pushed in fall camp, however, by a pair of transfers: Walter Taylor III and Destin Wade.
All three have game experience under their belts, giving this group a leg up on last year’s group. Walk-on Colton Allen also returns, while the Buffs added former Bethune-Cookman quarterback Dominiq Ponder this summer. Ponder, a three-star recruit in 2022, appeared in two games last season.
Position: Quarterbacks
Returners with 2023 starts: Shedeur Sanders, 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, Sr. (11 starts); Ryan Staub, 6-1, 200, R-Fr. (1 start).
Other returners: Colton Allen, 6-3, 205, So. (walk-on).
Transfers: Walter Taylor III, 6-5, 235 (Vanderbilt); Destin Wade, 6-3, 225, So. (Kentucky); Dominiq Ponder, 6-5, 185, R-Fr. (Bethune-Cookman; walk-on).
True freshmen: None.
Key losses: None.
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