Shedeur Sanders is prepared in all aspects to take on the 2024 Colorado football season

Injuries were an unfortunate part of Shedeur Sanders' first year playing Colorado football and left everyone wondering what the results could have been if they never happened. However, they are a part of the game and a "price" that is paid — considering how incredibly physical the sport is.

Good thing for Sanders, that's all in the past and he's ready in more ways than one to play football this coming fall. But he claims that it was difficult to withstand all that happened during the 2023-24 season.

“Physically, it was difficult,” Sanders said (h/t BuffZone). "Just hits adding up."

It means a lot for him to admit the challenges because that's one step of the progression journey. The nature of top college football is a whole lot different than anything he faced during his time with Jackson State. The players are better, stronger and feature the best of the best.

Yes, the offensive line is a huge factor in what happened — they were just unable to guard the trenches as they needed to be but improvement is real, and hopefully, for Coach Prime, a difference will be seen.

Now there's one year under his belt this just gives him much more experience that'll help for the future battles to come.

It's not only a physical but a mental grind for Colorado football QB Shedeur Sanders

Physicality is just one portion of football but Sanders expresses the mental aspect, too. Not just in football but in all sports in general this concept may tend to get overlooked as it's not always on the outside where strides are made.

“I got the layout of the land now, so we’re all in good hands,” he said. “Mentally, I really understand what we’re gonna get from teams. I’ve played a lot of football, so sometimes I may see too much. I may think some coaches and some scheme is greater than what it actually is, so it’s really about focusing on what is this team realistically gonna do and not question the what ifs and all that.”

As stated above, the one year of experience will be extremely beneficial to him — he has a sense of the competition and is ready to bring that fire of his own.

It will be intriguing to see how Sanders rises to the challenge — in what will most likely be his last season of college football, let's expect him to go out with a bang.