Deion Sanders explains why Colorado Buffaloes are better without Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter

Are the Colorado Buffaloes really going to be better without Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter?

Buffs head coach Deion Sanders seems to think so.

As he goes into his third season at the helm, with a 13-12 record, the NFL Hall of Famer spoke at length to For the Win about how he feels his roster is far stronger without the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner and his own son as quarterback.

“Now, we may not have the guy that’s going to win the Heisman, we may not have the quarterback that we know that he’s been that guy his whole darn life,” he said.

“But we have guys that can make that happen at that same position at quarterback, and we have some guys that could light up the scoreboard instantly…

“We may not have the lightning strikes that we had last year, but we’re still going to cause a storm because we have a better team, I feel.”

Of course, last year, Sanders had son Shedeur and Hunter at his disposal, with the two skyrocketing Colorado into college football relevancy.

Now, Hunter – a dynamic two-way player – and Sanders have made the final 53-man rosters on the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns, respectively, with them hoping to take the NFL by storm, just as they did on the college stage.

As the second overall pick in the 2025 draft, Hunter is expected to see the field on a regular basis, though whether he sees time on both the offense and defense is what really remains to be seen.

Sanders’ chances, however, are more complicated as he is currently listed as the third-string quarterback behind veteran Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, despite having impressed in the Browns’ preseason.

But Sanders isn’t the only son that Deion has lost from Colorado this past year, with cornerback Shilo also having tried his chances to make an NFL team.

Despite going undrafted, the 25-year-old signed a training camp deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he started to make an impression on some of the Bucs’ coaching staff.

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However, after letting his emotions get the best of him in Tampa Bay’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills, in which Sanders threw a punch at tight end Zach Davidson, he was subsequently cut from the roster.

With neither Sanders brother nor Hunter available to generate highlight plays on a weekly basis, it could be assumed that the Buffs simply don’t possess the talent they once did to really compete in the Big 12.

According to Deion, though – who recently announced he had been battling, and had beaten, bladder cancer – Colorado’s roster depth going into the new season is arguably their biggest strength.

“First it was the challenge of coming to this level. Could we change the game? We did,” he said, via Yahoo! Sports. “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.”

This off-season, the team added former Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter via the transfer portal, with the 22-year-old having thrown for 4,762 yards, 47 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions over his last two seasons as he led the Liberty to a 21-4 winning record in that span.

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Other transfers include wide receiver duo Sincere Brown and Hykeem Williams.

This season will see Coach Prime take on a first – no longer coaching a quarterback who is his own son, with Shedeur having followed his father from Jackson State to Colorado.

But the 58-year-old feels somewhat relieved that he doesn’t have to coach his own family members anymore.

“I’m happy about it because I don’t have to be the coach and the father,” Sanders said about not having his sons on Colorado’s roster.

“Now, I can only be the coach. I can focus on being the coach, and I like that. I don’t have to be the dad. After practice, before practice, during practice, I don’t have to wear two hats. I could just wear one.”

Colorado open their 2025 NCAA college football campaign at home where they will host Georgia Tech on August, 30.

Having finished 9-4 last season, and earning the programme’s first top-25 finish since 2016, it is really difficult to predict just how the Buffs will fare this year.

However, with a coach of Sanders’ stature in charge, anything is possible, though one thing that is virtually a guaranteed certainty is that he will find a way to make Colorado box office entertainment.

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