CFB Insider Believes Critics of Shedeur Sanders Are “Incensed by the Confidence of a Young Black Man”

The Colorado Buffaloes have announced that they will be retiring the jersey numbers of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders during the team’s 2025 spring game as the university seeks to honor the two best prospects in the history of its program. While Hunter is currently slated to be the second overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, the announcement comes in the wake of Sanders’ being removed from the top five conversation.

The 23-year-old has seen everything from his release time to his flashy wristwatches be called into question. Some have even suggested that the presence of his Hall of Fame father, Deion Sanders, is somehow a hindrance to him as a prospect.

According to the host of The Number One College Football Show, R.J. Young, the majority of criticisms surrounding Sanders has nothing to do with a lack of football capabilities.

In asserting that Sanders was the actual “strength” of the Buffalo’s offense, Young suggests that there’s a much more sinister undertone to the slights being made against the second-generation athlete.

“We’re talking about a player that laid his body out in ways that many people want to gloss over because they are so incensed by the confidence of a young black man. They are just getting mad about it. The man took 50 sacks on a four-win team in 2023. Flipped around, took a crap ton of sacks again, and still managed to throw for 4,000 yards and get Colorado to a tie for first place.”

Highlighting the impact that Sanders had on the program as a whole, Young believes that he is more than deserving of having his jersey retired despite having left the program just four months ago. According to the podcast host, anyone attempting to discredit the jersey retirement by claiming that Sanders wasn’t one of the best players in the nation last season is merely being disingenuous.

In an attempt to clarify the legitimacy of the program’s decision, Young emphasized that Sanders is “the best quarterback that has ever played at Colorado.”

“This is not a college football Hall of Fame that they are being entered into. This is the Colorado Hall of Fame and they can put anybody in there that they damn well want to. If Dan Hawkins can get some run in there, you know damn well Shedeur Sanders can get some run in there.”

Sanders’ nine-win campaign in 2024 was the first that the program had seen since 2016 and is only the second of its kind since 2022. His 7,364 career passing yards is the fifth most in program history, while his 64 career passing touchdowns are the most by any Buffalo ever.

As far as the complaints surrounding Sanders’ teammate, the aforementioned Hunter, is concerned, Young wasn’t having any of it either. Clearly having run out of patience, the analyst was quick to dismiss any and all of Hunter’s naysayers.

“Dude went both ways and won the Heisman trophy, Rashaan Salaam, okay? Get out of here… Fool, what are you talking about that they don’t retire his jersey quick, fast, and in a hurry? Nobody else gets to wear 12, get them out of here. The 12 in particular though. Why? Because 12 is a popular number and people wanna wear it, and Tom Brady wore it with the New England Patriots so you’ve got a lot of 12s coming around.”

Citing the fact that Hunter is the only player in FBS history to record 1,000 receiving yards, 90+ catches, and at least two interceptions in a single season, Young would not allow anyone to forget the historical implications of Hunter’s collegiate career.

Regardless of how one may feel about the prospects on an individual level, there is no denying that both young men have cemented themselves as Colorado legends. Having breathed life back into a forgotten program, the dynamic duo is now set to be rewarded with a pair of NFL contracts in just a few more days.