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Deion Sanders’ limited tenure with the Colorado Buffaloes is already an undeniable success. He took a program lost in the basement of FBS power conference football and made it relevant again while bringing in a Heisman Trophy winner and a pair of likely first-round 2025 NFL Draft picks. But Sanders recently made his first big misstep, and it turns out it was larger than anyone could’ve imagined.
Colorado recently retired the numbers of 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and likely first-round pick Shedeur Sanders. The move to do so immediately came as a shock to fans and undoubtedly has Deion Sanders’ fingerprints all over it. Hunter and Sanders became just the fifth and sixth players in program history to have their numbers retired, and former Colorado stars are not at all happy about it.
“Not a lot of numbers have been retired over the years,” former star linebacker Chad Brown told David Ubben of The Athletic. “For this to be the exact opposite of our experience is one of the reasons why it was so different to see this.
“I had no idea whatsoever,” Brown said. “I hadn’t heard of anyone who heard it was happening. Everybody from my era was just as caught off guard as I was.”
The issue at hand seemingly surrounds Shedeur Sanders. Hunter, the second Heisman Trophy winner in program history, was a lock for the honor. While it may have come sooner than some expected, it was simply a matter of time. Sanders, however, had a good not great career for the Buffaloes and many former players feels he was unjustly honored.
“We’re celebrating mediocrity. Where are the wins? Where are the top-10 finishes? Go Buffs for life, but you have to just hold your nose and deal with it,” an anonymous member of the 1990 national championship-winning Colorado team said.
Tyler Polumbus, who played for Colorado from 2003-07 before winning a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, did not dance around the issue.
“This is the first decision that Deion Sanders has made that has really enraged the alumni, including myself,” Polumbus said before telling Ubben he was mostly speaking about Shedeur Sanders’ number retirement
Deion Sanders took exception to the complaints, believing them to be personal attacks.
“I’m not going to be critical of you because I didn’t get what I want. I don’t get down like that,” he said. “The root to all of it is personal. Sometimes we just have to get out the way and be thankful for our people.”
But in doing so, he also tacitly admitted that Sheduer only received the honor because his legendary father it the team’s head coach.
Who knows how long Sanders hangs around Boulder? But if he intends for it to be a lengthy stay, he’s got some clean-up work to do with several of the program’s most notable lettermen.