Shedeur Sanders still learning CU’s offense, but his deep passes are flying

The Colorado Buffaloes are back in action, returning to campus this week for fall practices ahead of their first season under Deion Sanders.

With Coach Prime comes a lot of attention, excitement and also a quarterback—his son. Shedeur Sanders is making the jump from the HBCU level where he impressed to the Pac-12. Nobody is saying it will be easy but given the quarterback was highly touted out of high school and went to a lower level to play for his father combined with the fact he’s got Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and others in his phone, there’s a lot of hope for Sanders.

And Sanders, who nearly tossed 4,000 yards last year with 40 touchdowns and six picks, knows he has a challenge ahead of him.

“I took lifting more seriously,” he said after Thursday’s practice to Denver Sports’ Mat Smith and other media members. “Just focusing on that—the weight room. This is the most prepared I’ve ever been.”

Sanders is dealing with a lot of new things, not just level of football. New hometown, new school and a new offense. That offense will be lead by Sean Lewis, who left his job as Kent State’s head coach to become the Buffaloes offensive coordinator.

Lewis’ fast-paced offense is known for it’s pace and big plays.

“Learning a lot from him, in the spring I looked at the offense in a certain way, now coming back I see it in a different eye. I’m happy we spent the spring together,” Sanders said before describing how comfortable he is with the playbook. “80%, almost there, there’s game plan-specific stuff still. he has 11, 12 years in the offense, I had a spring. I’m starting to understand what he thinks and how he thinks and why he’s calling certain stuff. He’s giving us all the answers to the problems, we just gotta solve them.”

The deep balls part of the offense, Sanders seems to have down. Behind-the-scenes video of the quarterback slinging a few bombs came out and it looks like the Buffs may be ready to drop another 99-yard flea-flicker touchdown on Nebraska in a few weeks.

Shedeur Sanders taking SHOTS in Colorado’s first camp practice 😳

Sanders recently spent time this off-season training with names like Russell Wilson and Courtland Sutton.

Sanders was recently placed on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the nation’s “most… pic.twitter.com/IQPdE2Dje6

— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) August 2, 2023

“For him to have a mastery of what we are doing, so he can be an elite problem solver,” Lewis told Smith of this quarterback. “Knowing where the problems are that the defense presents to us. he can have the answers to the test, see where the problems are, and solve them rapidly.”

🦬 QB @ShedeurSanders on his level of comfortability so far in Lewis’s offense and the dynamic of problem solving together.#TrainingCamp pic.twitter.com/2cOZl3ri82

— Mat Smith (@RealMatSmith) August 3, 2023

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