Shedeur Sanders reveals why he didn’t leave CU for NFL Draft

Shedeur Sanders would’ve had a shot at going No. 1 in the 2024 NFL Draft and at the very least would’ve been the second quarterback off the board. The mock drafts knew it, his father and coach knew it and he himself knew it.

Rare is the college kid who would’ve been a slam dunk top-five pick that comes back to school for another year. Rarer is it to be the son of Deion Sanders and at the absolute center of college football.

Simply said, Shedeur didn’t want his legacy as quarterback of the Colorado Buffaloes to be a 4-8 season with just the school’s passing touchdown record. He wants more wins, he likely seeks more history and most importantly he wants to be the No. 1 pick in the draft when he does decide to leap to the next level.

“I’m trying to be the first quarterback off the board. That’s really what it is,” Sanders said on Wednesday. “I respect Caleb (Williams,) I respect how he plays. He’s a great player. But overall there’s just different tiers of quarterbacks. There’s guys that’s special, there’s guys that’s are good and guys that are OK, game managers. You’ve gotta understand what player you are and what category you fall in. I understood this year wasn’t my year. I didn’t have enough time at this level.”

The former Heisman winner from USC, Williams, is going to be picked No. 1 by the Chicago Bears—a situation that may not have fit with the warm-weather-seeking Sanders family. The Trojans beat the Buffaloes 48-41 in Boulder this past fall, with the two quarterbacks combining for 771 yards, 10 touchdowns and two interceptions. While Williams year ended on a sour note as USC faded, he didn’t really have the option to return to school whereas Sanders seeing his team go 4-8 could.

“I couldn’t leave on that note, it didn’t feel right,” Sanders said. “It didn’t end the right way.”

Sanders missed all of Colorado’s season finale loss in Utah with a back injury and most of the Buffaloes’ penultimate game, another road loss at WAZZU. The back injury likely caused by the 56 sacks the team allowed, the second-worst in the country, plagued him down the stretch but is all healed up now. In total his first season in Boulder ended with 3,260 yards passing and 27 touchdowns through the air and just three interceptions.

“Everything is building up each year,” Sanders said. “I’m improving different things and adding different things to my bag… you could check the stats year after year after year, they’re improving.”

Sanders is mocked by many to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with teammate Travis Hunter going No. 2, still oddsmakers have set the line for CU’s win total at 4.5—which would be a massive disappointment for a team talking postseason.

On top of the expectation and building, Coach Prime, or as Shedeur knows him, Dad, has quite a lot to prove in Boulder this fall.