SAN ANTONIO >> Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders didn’t need a year with Pat Shurmur to become ready for the NFL.

In fact, he didn’t even need a fourth season in college football. Had he declared for the 2024 draft, Sanders said Thursday, “I was going first round last year.”

By the same token, Shurmur, CU’s first-year offensive coordinator, didn’t need a year with Sanders. He’s a longtime established coach who has spent more than two decades in the NFL, including two stints as a head coach.

The two of them formed an exceptional duo this season, though, and they were good for each other in helping the 20th-ranked Buffaloes (9-3) get to the Valero Alamo Bowl, where they’ll face No. 17 BYU (10-2) on Saturday (5:30 p.m., ABC).

Shurmur is the fourth coordinator Sanders has had in a four-year college career, but his experience in the NFL has helped give Sanders some extra tools for the next level.

“Each year I would say more and more has been put on my plate,” Sanders said Thursday at an Alamo Bowl news conference at the Alamodome. “The more experience I got, the more years and tasks on hand, the more ball I played. At this point, he brought a different perspective, a (NFL) perspective coming into college and being able to adjust and help me see things in a different perspective, in a different way.

“So we could all look at the defense on the board, but we all could have different point of views. So that’s why I’m thankful to be in a situation I’m in and have all the different offensive coordinators and ending with him, because he’s been at the biggest level, the highest level you could get. I was able to learn a lot from each and every one of those coordinators to where it all built me into the player I am today.”

Statistically, Sanders has had arguably his best season in college, with career highs for completion percentage (74.2%) and passing yards (3,926) and the second-most TD passes of his career (35).

He’s enjoyed success this season with a coordinator who not only is helping his transition to the NFL, but who has allowed Sanders to be himself, while growing.

Shurmur, even with his wealth of experience, has grown, too.

“I’ve learned a great deal from him in a lot of things, and I’ll keep most of it private, but I think the big thing is, even Tiger Woods needed a caddy, right?” Shurmur said. “(Sanders) is so smart, I can call a play, like we have an example where we get in (an empty backfield) and we just call hitches, and I’ll say, ‘Play with it, and then he can change all the routes, and that whole play could look totally different.’ But I trust him to do that, because he’s really good at it. So I’ve got a great appreciation for him, and I’m looking forward to him just killing it at the next level.”

The next level is part of CU head coach Deion Sanders had in mind when he called Shurmur in the summer of 2023 and asked him to join the staff as an analyst under then-coordinator Sean Lewis.

By November, Shurmur was calling the offense. He became the full-time coordinator in January, after Lewis left CU for the head coaching job at San Diego State.

“With my relationship with Shedeur, you know, it started last year,” Shurmur said. “Early on, we developed a really good relationship. I think that’s the key part of this business that people don’t spend enough time on. You just can’t start teaching these guys plays. You’ve got to get to know them. They’ve got to know you believe in them.

“Then when I was put in control of the offense, it just happened faster. I believe in the young man. I listen to him. Even though I’m almost 60 — I’m a grandfather now, three times. That relationship, so whether you are a grandfather or a coach of working with young people, that’s where it starts. So then when we start talking about plays, it’s easy.”

Because they’ve worked so well together, Shurmur is re-energized as a coach and Shedeur is better equipped for the NFL — and he’ll be one of the first, if not the first, player drafted next spring.

This week, however, they have one last game together.

“I just am really, really looking forward to him finishing this thing out the right way and then watching him play at the next level and just really killing it,” Shurmur said. “I think it’s going to be fun for me.”