FOX Sports lists new CU Buffs QB as top Heisman candidate for 2023

Deion Sanders is tasked with restoring the Colorado Buffaloes to their past glory.

From winning seasons to great players the CU Buffs have just lacked a lot of what made them so special in the 1990s for a very long time. Not only has Colorado not won a postseason game in two decades, but their last first-rounder in the NFL Draft was also selected in 2011 when Jimmie Smith and Nate Solder went together. For some schools, they’ve never even come close to achieving what the Buffaloes have in the past, making their glass ceiling hard to define. But CU’s ceiling is the top of college football, with a national championship and Heisman Trophy in their past.

One of these honors could be Colorado’s future as well.

Nobody thinks the 1-11 Buffaloes from a season ago will catch up to the Alabamas of the world over night but the College Football Playoff expansion to 12 teams in 2024 gives Colorado a chance a few years from now. Giving them a bigger chance at glory right away might be Sanders’ son, Shedeur Sanders, who departed Jackson State with Coach Prime. Shedeur was already announced as Colorado’s new quarterback by his father minutes after he first put on the black and gold.

And just as conference foe USC’s Caleb Williams was announced as this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, some are saying he’s not the favorite for next season. FOX Sports is making Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders their No. 1 candidate entering 2023, writing:

There is presently no bigger star in the sport than Coach Prime. And he left no doubt about who is going to be the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback in 2023 — none other than his son, Shedeur Sanders. And by the way, he can play.

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If Sanders can quarterback Colorado to its first conference title in more than 20 years in a conference that counts CU rival Utah as its two-time defending champion, you won’t need help knowing who will win the Heisman. It’ll be Sanders.

The last CU Buffs player to win the Heisman was Rashaan Salaam in 1994. The recently-elected Hall of Famer rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 24 TD in that season.

Shedeur Sanders is the highest-rated quarterback prospect to come to Boulder in two decades. This season with the Tigers he’s thrown for 3,383 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions while rushing for 157 yards and five touchdowns. He had a perfect passer rating of 158.5 and completed 70% of his passes. Granted Sanders was playing on the FCS level, but Colorado hasn’t had a quarterback throw for 3,000 or more yards since Sefo Liufau in 2014.

The six-foot-two, 215-pound quarterback was the first HBCU player to have his official replica jersey sold. Sanders led Jackson State to another Celebration Bowl appearance.

24/7 Sports also names the younger Sanders as a Heisman longshot, writing, “Surprised to see Shedeur Sanders on the early candidates list for 2023? Don’t be. Depending on how much talent Deion Sanders can acquire ahead of his first season, Colorado’s new quarterback will have plenty of weapons at his disposal.. The opener against TCU could be a fire-starter for Sanders’ Heisman campaign.”

Coach Prime tried to get some buzz about his quarterback-playing son about a month into the 2022 season, saying “I think we’re in it. We did what we wanted to do.”

“Now you get to put on Tupac ‘All Eyez on Me’ (Shedeur) gets to play that song,” Coach Prime told USA Today at the time. “Now he just has to do what he’s been doing thus far. I like his maturation. I like his growth. First and foremost, I love the way the line has protected him and receivers are doing their job as well. Coach Brett (Bartolone, offensive coordinator) is calling a heck of a game.”

Colorado begins against TCU then hosts Nebraska and CSU in a star-studded beginning to Coach Prime’s first season at the helm. If Shedeur gets even one first-place Heisman vote, he’ll do something as an athlete his two-sport star father never did—which is an honor in its own right.