Prime’s Buffs add another major weapon for son Shedeur Sanders

The Colorado Buffaloes return a lot of their production from their 2023 team to next fall, but one position where they needed to replace an outgoing senior was at top target.

With Xavier Weaver out of eligibility, the Buffs are in need of a No. 1 wide-out for Shedeur Sanders. Weaver’s 68 catches for 908 yards led CU and he had four touchdowns tacked onto his very productive season.

Deion Sanders has found the man most likely to slide in for Weaver, four-star transfer wide out from Vanderbilt Will Sheppard is headed to Boulder. The All-SEC player midseason first-teamer this season and postseason All-SEC second-teamer in 2022 announced the news on his social media on Thursday.

Up the Sko! 🦬 pic.twitter.com/WdLHkpqUN6

— Will Sheppard (@willshep20) December 14, 2023

Sheppard is a Ruston, Louisiana native who started all 12 games for Vanderbilt this past season, leading the Commodores with 47 catches, 684 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns. He ranked in the top 15 in the SEC in receiving yards, receiving yards per game, total touchdowns and yards per reception. Sheppard has been starting since his freshman year in 2020 and finished his time in Nashville with the program’s most receiving touchdowns. Sheppard was the seventh-best ranked receiver in the portal this winter and he’ll have to exchange some black and gold for some new black and gold.

Sheppard’s 2023 at Vanderbilt looks a lot like Weaver’s 2022 at South Florida, nabbing 53 balls for 718 yards and six scores.

Sanders has been hard at work trying to further improve Pat Shurmur’s offense around quarterback Shedeur Sanders for Year 2. Sheppard will join a group of returnees, centered around two-way star Travis Hunter. Jimmy Horn Jr., who led the team in touchdown grabs and was second to Weaver in many wide-out stats, will be back as is youngster Omarion Miller who flashed at times and young pass-catching running back Dylan Edwards.

Sanders set the record for passing yards in a season in school history and fell just shy of the program’s passing touchdown mark. He’ll have a chance to replicate that season and do even better, with more time in the pocket and less chance of being hit thanks to some giant bodies up front that his father has added to the roster. Both Sanders and Hunter should be Heisman candidates next season and the addition of Sheppard gives one another weapon and the other decoy to take some pressure off.