The Colorado Buffaloes were in dire straits before the Deion Sanders train arrived in Boulder. Now, they are a serious program coming off a 9-4 season where they earned a Bowl berth and a top 25 ranking. The two key cogs on the field during the 2024 campaign were QB Shedeur Sanders and WR/CB Travis Hunter. The school announced that both would have their jerseys retired at Colorado’s spring game this Saturday.
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All have pretty much agreed that the No. 12 worn by Hunter, who won a Heisman Trophy for his unprecedented two-way success, deserved the honor. Raising Shedeur’s No. 2 jersey to the rafters, however, has received widespread backlash both from the media and former Colorado greats.
One of those questioning the decision is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Generally, a supporter of Coach Prime and the way he does things, he took a different tack on this topic. He said straight up that the coach, who is also Shedeur’s father, was “wrong” for the decision. The call was ultimately made by athletic director Rick George, so the decision wasn’t solely based on Coach Prime’s opinion.
“The trajectory that him and Travis Hunter and others have enforced at that program, they deserve a lot of credit for it. But at the end of the day, in two years at Colorado, his record was 13-12, it was a five-game improvement. … That doesn’t usually garner retired jerseys. That’s just a fact. It’s rare that I think Deion Sanders is wrong in terms of his perspective on what he thinks other people are thinking, because he’s usually spot on. … It’s early too.”
That last point, that it’s “early” to have those jerseys retired, is the main criticism from most. Philip Lindsay, a former NFL running back who set dozens of school records at Colorado from 2013-2017, thinks both players deserve the honor. However, they are getting it before they’ve even moved on to the NFL, while other program legends, like Darian Hagan and Eric Bieniemy, are still waiting to be honored.
Joel Klatt, an analyst and former Colorado QB, has been one of Coach Prime’s most staunch supporters. But even he thought the decision was a little bit premature.
David Bakhtiari and Chad Brown, two more NFLers who attended Colorado, pointed out that Deon Figures, who won a national championship and the Jim Thorpe and Jack Tatum trophies in the early 1990s, also wore No. 2. They didn’t retire his jersey despite the fact that he accomplished a lot more than Shedeur did.
Deion Sanders held firm, however. He believes in celebrating the good things happening in Boulder right now. Keeping the good vibes going. He’s also surprised at how much backlash there has been, since, as he said, “every jersey I darn near played in is retired,” so he knows a thing or two about the process.
“This is the first time I’ve seen it (be a) sore (subject). I don’t know if you know it, but I think every jersey I darn near played in is retired. I’m pretty familiar with this. … The only reason we’re having this discussion is (because) his last name is Sanders. That’s it. … He don’t care. He’s a Sanders. Travis don’t either. I don’t either. I think it’s (going to be) a beautiful day, a blessed day.”
Unfortunately, we would have to agree with Stephen A. Smith on this one. Smith said that while the criticism Shedeur has received during the pre-NFL draft process is likely due to his name and his father, the criticism over this jersey-retiring decision is warranted. We’re on the same page there.
Two years and a 13-12 record with no major honors or even All-American recognition doesn’t usually result in a player getting their jersey retired. The fact that they’re doing it now and not a few years in the future is also very strange. These types of ceremonies are usually held long after a player has left the program or team in question. But hey, Deion Sanders doesn’t do things the usual way. We should know that by now.
