Key Colorado position group faces major risk of ‘overextending’ star

USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer pondered aloud whether or not the Colorado football program was overextending incoming Jackson State transfer Shedeur Sanders, the youngest son of Coach Prime, during the 2023 season given the lack of depth behind him on the depth chart.

“The risk is that the Buffs have too much riding on Shedeur Sanders,” Schrotenboer prefaced before saying, “As of last week, it wasn’t even clear who will be the backup quarterback this season. The only two scholarship quarterbacks behind him were freshmen after all four quarterbacks who started games last year for Colorado transferred to other colleges.” Deion Sanders cautioned that “the main thing” the coaching staff must do is have Shedeur protected, seemingly acknowledged the severity of his potential absence.

“The main thing really – We’ve just got to protect the kid,” Deion Sanders said of his son August 4. “If we keep him upright, I can’t wait until you see what he does, especially with the receivers, the plethora of receivers that we have that can straight-out ball. And they can run like the wind.”

State of the Colorado football QB room behind Shedeur Sanders

All summer, there have been quiet worries about CU’s quarterback room, with Buffaloes Wire’s Jack Carlough hoping that Colorado won’t have to rely on any backups during the 2023 campaign.

“Hopefully, Shedeur Sanders can stay healthy and the Buffs won’t have to rely on their backup quarterback, but this remains an incredibly important position,” Carlough wrote.

For those wondering what the quarterback position would look like in the event of a worst-case scenario injury to Sanders, Carlough projects Stevenson Ranch, California product Ryan Staub to inherit the job.

“Those up for the spot include incoming freshmen Ryan Staub and Kasen Weisman and walk-ons Colton Allen and Gavin Kuld,” Carlough prefaced before saying, “Given that he was in Boulder for spring camp, Staub is the frontrunner here, in my opinion.”