Colorado football backup QB job shredded: 'Who wants to go in and back up the coach’s son?'

ESPN's Pete Thamel believes that the backup Colorado football quarterback job is not a desirable one because with Deion Sanders in charge of the Buffs, no one is going to usurp Shedeur Sanders as the starter.

“As we’ve seen, it’s hard for Colorado to have a backup quarterback – mainly because Deion came in and insulted most of the ones who were in the room and scared them off,” Thamel said (h/t AthlonSports). “Who wants to go in and back up the coach’s son? You’re not going to play.”

That problem is overblown. As is everything related to Coach Prime's program.

If the job was so bad, why is Ryan Staub still in Boulder? Shedeur's backup in 2023 was given a blessing by Sanders to go and find a starting job elsewhere after a 17/24 passing day with 195 yards and a touchdown.

“I don’t think it’s Staub’s dream to be a number two quarterback,” Sanders said (h/t The Denver Gazette). “I’m not gonna forecast that on Mr. Staub. After his performance today, he wants to play somewhere, whether it’s here or somewhere else. He proved that he could play. I’m proud of him.”

Colorado football backup job still has spotlight with Shedeur Sanders as QB1

By Thamel's line of thinking, the Buffs' QB2 job will only be undesirable for another season with Shedeur off to the NFL in 2025. But even with Shedeur still in town, the job has an underrated element to it.

First off, there's a chance you will play. Obviously, Staub didn't play under ideal circumstances but he did get snaps after CU ran up the score against Nebraska in Week 2, and on the flip side, when Wazzu ran up the score against them in Week 12.

Secondly, you will have a spotlight unmatched as a backup by just about anyone besides Arch Manning in Texas. Shedeur has his haters, so many will want to see him fail and be replaced. By proxy, Colorado's QB2 becomes a babyface.

To quote Dido's song "Thank You," it's not so bad...it's not so bad to be the backup QB in Boulder.