2023 has been a great year for Colorado football as a whole.
The Buffs have exceeded everyone’s preseason expectations, and we’ve seen several first-year players shine: Shedeur Sanders has shown himself to be an amazing quarterback, Travis Hunter has let the world know he is one of the best cornerbacks in college football, and Xavier Weaver has put everyone on notice with his amazing play at the receiver position.
While these players have shined and Coach Prime looks like the right guy for the job, it has not been all sunshine and rainbows. With the great performance of the team, there have been disappointments.
Colorado football players who have disappointed in 2023
Cormani McClain
The former five-star recruit who originally committed to the University of Miami before deciding to come to Colorado, Cormani McClain, has been one of the biggest disappointments for Colorado this season; mainly due to his off-field behavior, of which his head coach is not a fan.
Coach Prime has been hard on McClain all season, specifically calling him out for his poor attendance in mandatory team activities.
“Study and prepare,” Coach Prime said when asked how McClain could see the field in September. “Be on time for meetings, show up to meetings. Understand what we’re doing as a scheme. Want to play this game. Desire to play this game. Desire to be the best in this game, at practice, in film room and on your own.”
Based on Deion Sanders’ comments, it seems that the only issue with McClain is his attitude. The expectations for this top recruit were very high and the production has not even come close to what was expected.
We expect a huge turnaround in the future — that is if he doesn’t hit the transfer portal — but so far in his career at Colorado, McClain has been a disappointment.
Dylan Edwards
After an insane Week 1 showing against a heavily favorited TCU team, many Colorado football fans started to think very highly of Dylan Edwards. The amount of production that was provided by him in that 45-42 win made everyone believe he would be a star on offense.
Unfortunately, since since then, that production has not been there and it has left everyone befuddled. It’s not all his fault, since he’s behind one of the nation’s worst offensive lines (more on that in a minute), but Edwards has been a victim of the expectations he set for himself in Week 1.
The entire offensive line
The offensive line has been by far the biggest problem for Colorado football this season — and the lack of protection they have provided for Shedeur and the running backs has hurt the team from reaching that next level in a crowded Pac-12. Colorado did not expect to have an all-time great offensive line, but even the most tempered of expectations for the thrown-together group haven’t been met.
While these have been letdowns to the Buffs faithful this season, there is still time left to turn it around and bring it all together. Colorado football can go on a tear for the remainder of the season if these talented underperformers start living up to their expectations.