Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders both on top-100 CFB players list

Both Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders made ESPN’s top-100 college football players of 2023 list that dropped on Wednesday.

The two-way star and star quarterback for the CU Buffs were a couple of the biggest bright spots during a 4-8 season. Hunter won Colorado’s first major national college football award since 2002 and was also named a first-team All-American.

Sanders was an honorable mention on the Pac-12’s all-conference team, only missing out on first-team or second-team because of two Heisman Trophy finalists in Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon’s Bo Nix.

You can’t deny that both Hunter and Sanders had great seasons, and ESPN acknowledged as much. They ranked Hunter as the 35th best player in the country in 2023 and Sanders 69th.

“A true two-way threat, Hunter was a key player for the Buffaloes at receiver and at corner, playing a majority of the team’s snaps on both sides. In nine games, he finished with 57 catches for 721 yards receiving and five touchdowns, with three interceptions,” ESPN wrote about Hunter.

“Behind an offensive line that gave him less and less protection as the year went on, Sanders threw for 3,230 yards and 27 touchdowns. In what was a noisy rebuilding year for the Buffs, Sanders stood out in singular moments but also showed that both he and Colorado have a ways to go,” ESPN said of Sanders.

Sanders was sacked an absurd 52 times this past season, so it’s interesting the outlet writes he “ha(s) a ways to go.” One could argue the offensive line had a long way to go, which is why it got totally rebuilt.

Head coach Deion Sanders, Shedeur’s father, killed it in the transfer portal and landed the No. 1 high school offensive tackle in the country.

For now, these are respectable spots for Hunter and Sanders to check in at. But you better believe if CU makes the kind of noise they want to make in 2024, both players will be looking to crack the top-10 next season.