For the first time since he got into coaching, Colorado’s Deion Sanders won’t have his son, Shedeur, playing quarterback for his team.

He also won’t have his other son, Shilo, at safety, or Travis Hunter — who was like a son — starring on offense and defense.

As Sanders begins his third season as the Buffaloes’ head coach, however, he still has supreme confidence in the program he’s leading.

“They were great players,” Sanders said of his sons and Hunter during an interview on ESPN at Big 12 media day in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday. “We have a better team. It’s a difference between great players and a great team.

“We have a better team, but we can never replace those types of players. It may take three players on offense to replace a Travis Hunter. It may take two players to replace Shedeur Sanders, and that’s what we brought here.”

Led by Shedeur and Hunter, the Buffs vaulted to 9-4 and remained in Big 12 title contention until the final day of the regular season. That came just two years after CU went 1-11 in the pre-Sanders era.

“It gave everyone the momentum, and not just courage but the thought and the belief that we can do this,” Sanders said. “We’re not too far away. You just add pieces, you add players, you add consistency, you add guys that really love the darn game.”

CU had a lot of those pieces last year, with Shedeur, Shilo, Hunter, Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, LaJohntay Wester and more. They’re all gone, but the Buffs are going into this year believing they’ve got winning pieces in place again.

Said Sanders: “We feel like we have a better defense, for sure, a better offense, more understanding of the schemes collectively, offensively and defensively, because each coach they’re in their second year in the schemes now.”

Pat Shurmur will be starting his second full season as the Buffs’ offensive coordinator, but the two quarterbacks battling for the starting job to replace Shedeur — senior Kaidon Salter and freshman JuJu Lewis — are first-year Buffs.

Sanders is confident in both players, however.

“We can’t lose either way, with either of those two,” he said at media day.The Buffs are also confident in their receivers, despite each the top four wideouts from last year now playing in the NFL. Drelon Miller, Omarion Miller, Joseph Williams and more are loaded with potential to bust loose.

“They are unbelievable,” Sanders said. “They are awesome. I can’t wait to unleash them. They’re great.”

CU has also loaded up on transfer offensive linemen, and Sanders said that will boost the run game.

“We should be a much (more) fine-tuned running game because some of the linemen are straight killers that we brought in,” he said. “We’ve gotta run the football. We can’t depend on Shedeur to pull off a miracle. We’ve gotta run the football, and that’s what we plan on doing.”

On defense, six of the top eight tacklers from last year are gone, but cornerback DJ McKinney has earned preseason All-Big 12 recognition. As they did on offense, the Buffs also boosted the line through the transfer portal.

“Defensively, man, what we brought in up front, outside to rush the passer, the linebackers and the secondary is phenomenal,” Sanders said. “It’s gonna be special. And this is the second year they’re in (coordinator) Rob Livingston’s defense.”

It’s also year No. 3 for Sanders’ culture in the building.

“These guys understand there’s a standard,” he said.

That standard hasn’t changed, even without Shedeur, Shilo, Hunter and others.

“I want to win at all costs,” Sanders said. “I want to win the right way. I want to set the right standards, and I want to prepare these young men for life, not just football.”