On3's Andrew Graham listed Colorado football quarterback Shedeur Sanders as the No. 5 QB in the country ahead of the 2024 season; much higher than Barstool Sports's Brandon Walker, who drew a clap-back from the "Grown QB."
The nine quarterbacks ahead of Sanders in Walker’s ranking (Carson Beck, Quinn Ewers, Jaxson Dart, Noah Fifita, Dillon Gabriel, Cam Ward, Brady Cook, Jalen Mlroe, Cam Rising) all have a fair case to be considered among the 10 best in college football this upcoming season," Graham prefaced before saying, "However, Sanders’ statistical profile and professional upside might suggest he’s closer to the Top 5. In 11 games in 2023, he completed 69.3% of his passes for 3230 yards and 27 touchdowns to three interceptions. He also played under duress regularly, and was the most-sacked quarterback in the country — Colorado’s offensive line was subpar, and Sanders didn’t find great ways to mitigate that."
Sanders took to X to ask to have a drug test sent to Walker for his disrespectful ranking to Colorado's QB1.
Send Brandon a Drug test
— Shedeur Sanders (@ShedeurSanders) March 5, 2024
Colorado football QB Shedeur Sanders' spotlight makes him irritable to many
Fanbases from schools like Georgia, Alabama, and Michigan saw standout play from under center in 2023, but it was Shedeur who basked in a much bigger spotlight despite being part of just one Pac-12 victory in its final season as a Power Five conference.
The sub-par results on a national scale last season -- though a major victory for the University of Colorado Boulder after years of futility beforehand -- could lead to Sanders being the EA Sports College Football 25 cover athlete if Kirk Herbstreit's suggestion on the game holds any weight behind it.
“I think Shedeur Sanders is a massive name and a big following. I don’t know that,” Herbstreit said, making clear he wasn’t saying he knew Sanders would grace the cover, just that it makes sense (h/t On3).
It's not hard to see why that's annoying to some fanbases, but you have to ask yourself: why can't your winning QB move the needle for a gaming giant in the same way a 4-8 QB could?
Take that up with EA Sports.