Colorado's Spring Game weekend was "Buffs to the Bone"
What have we learned from CU’s annual spring exercise? A few things stand out.
First, quarterback Shedeur Sanders appears healthy again. The fractured back and other injuries the 22-year-old endured last season behind a porous offensive line appear to have healed. But there’s always room for improvement right? For whatever reason Michael Jordan comes to mind. Basketball’s GOAT had limitations coming out of North Carolina, notably outside shooting, but persistent practice made that deficiency evaporate quickly.
What about Sanders? Has the athletic young man learned to get rid of the football quicker and stop running around trying to buy time to make the amazing play? Learned to move through his progressions from one receiver to the next? Take heat off the beleaguered offensive line which often had no idea where on the field its talented quarterback was roaming in search of an escape route?
Coach Prime says Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter will holdout for certain teams in 2025 NFL Draft
Speaking of the offensive line. All new starters for the 2024 season. If there’s one unit on the football field that cries out for experience and consistency, it’s the big guys up front charged with protecting the Buffs greatest asset. In this transactional world that is today’s college football, this might be the most glaring challenge for coaching staffs. How to fortify a critical component to success when names and faces are constantly changing as players transfer whenever and start most conversations with, “How much are you gonna pay me?”
Topics that will reveal themselves over time as the Buffs get ready for their second season under Deion, “Coach Prime,” Sanders. Your scribe won’t even touch the constant chatter about, “How long do you think Prime is going to stick around in Boulder?” Like previously mentioned, it’s a transactional world where loyalty to a program is fleeting at best.
In the mind of a sports journalist who was the “Buff Guy” for KCNC-TV, now CBS News Colorado, for almost two decades during the greatest run in school history, the biggest thing taken from the recently concluded weekend-long extravaganza? It included a controlled scrimmage, Lil’ Wayne concert and gala honoring the pride and tradition of the football program? What an excellent job the athletic administration, Alumni “C” Club and Buffs4Life are doing in keeping former players, coaches and administrators connected to the current team.
Kimberly Orr is the Alumni C Club director and well-known Buffs are leaders of Buffs4Life. Former standout linebacker Hannibal Navies is current president and, of course, athletic director Rick George and his staff deserve credit too. Observing on social media the pictures of former players, coaches and staff celebrating CU’s pride and tradition was impressive.
It takes the cranium back to September of 1989. The Buffs had just said an emotional goodbye to their unquestioned leader and quarterback Sal Aunese who had passed from stomach cancer. Hall of Fame coach Bill McCartney’s squad was nationally-ranked and in Seattle for a matchup against an equally-talented Washington Huskies’ squad. A light mist was falling from the sky. It was like tears were falling from heaven for a grieving team.
Standing on the sidelines, it’s a moment never to be forgotten. The public address announcer asked the sellout crowd to rise in a moment of silence to honor Aunese. Upon the crowd rising? The Buffs - all of them - dropped to one knee and pointed skyward to honor their fallen comrade and then proceeded to wallop the Huskies’ 45-28 in a game not as close as the score might indicate.
The Buffs were “One Heartbeat” that undefeated regular season. Staring at all the social media photos of the former greats celebrating one another and supporting the current team from this past weekend? The memories flooded back. A favorite picture was of former quarterback Bobby Pesavento wearing a 62-36 hat commemorating the 2001 shellacking of Nebraska at Folsom Field.
Spring drills are done. Let the speculation begin for the upcoming season. This much is evident, the greatness of the past is pulling faithfully for the present Buffaloes to restore glory at the foot of the Flatirons. The faces and bodies have aged but the spirit remains forever youthful. Shoulder to shoulder, Buffs to the bone.
JEFF HAUSER