When Deion Sanders brought up the idea of playing another team for Colorado’s spring game, there was genuine purpose to it.

Yes, CU could potentially generate some revenue and national TV exposure from playing another team during a scrimmage. But, it would also give the Buffaloes’ head coach a better evaluation of his own team coming out of the spring.

“I don’t know how you assess the spring; you’re practicing against yourself,” he said Thursday when asked to evaluate how the spring has gone for the Buffaloes.

“So if you’re doing good (on one side of the ball), what does that say? You’re doing bad, what does that say? So you can’t really assess that. That’s why I wanted a spring game against somebody else. So you could kind of assess talent, you could assess coaching, you could assess growth, adversity. You can assess a whole lot of things.”

The NCAA rejected a waiver request by CU and Syracuse to compete in a spring scrimmage, but on Saturday, the Buffs will wrap up their 15 spring practices with the annual Black & Gold game at Folsom Field (2:30 p.m., ESPN2).

While spring practices may not be the best evaluation tool for the program, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur called it “a productive spring,” and Sanders said he does, in general, like where the Buffs are headed.

Coming off a 9-4 season in 2024, CU must replace several key players, including Heisman Trophy-winning receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and star quarterback Shedeur Sanders.“I love where we are (as a program),” coach Sanders said. “I think we could always do better. We could always be better. We could always have several of the players that make you feel better about what’s going on.

“I feel really good about the staff. I feel really good about the support staff, where we are injury-wise, the guys that I know are going to be healthy and coming back this summer. I feel really good about (Andreu Swasey) and what he’s doing in strength and conditioning.”

Feeling good about the Buffs going into 2025 starts at quarterback, where they have to replace Shedeur, who shattered most single-season school passing records last year.

Senior Kaidon Salter, sophomore Ryan Staub and freshman Julian Lewis aren’t on Shedeur’s level at this point, but all three have talent and all three have had a productive spring.

“It’s totally different, because we had old reliable (Shedeur) and we didn’t have to blink,” Sanders said. “We knew what we were getting on Saturday. We knew that. Now, we got to really think about this thing and see who these guys are so we can put them in the right position for success. And that’s probably the main thing, kind of figuring these guys out, what they’re good at, what they’re not, what they’re comfortable with. How much can we push them? And we still have a whole summer to do so as well.”

Salter, a transfer from Liberty, and Lewis, a five-star recruit who enrolled early, are considered the front-runners for the starting job, and Sanders said it’s a challenge for Shurmur because both are different.

“Every day they getting better and better,” he said. “They’re starting to understand the system. It’s tougher on Pat and the offensive coaches, because you have two different type of quarterbacks. So you’re pretty much calling two different offenses.”

Sanders said Staub can’t be forgotten in the battle, either.

“Staub is kind of the most versatile,” he said. “He could do a little bit of both. So it’s different. It’s not easy whatsoever, but these two guys … these three guys — Staub has had a tremendous spring to me. He’s in it as well.”

Sanders has said in the past that he believes the team needs seven top players on each side of the ball, so getting ready for the season is more than just about the quarterback.

“We’re not far away,” he said.

“We’re definitely not far away. I think at this point last year, we still got, about 15-17, maybe 14 guys out of the portal at this point last year, going into the summer. So we want to be around that area, and we’ll be pretty good if we’re around that area.”

With what appears to have been a solid spring almost in the books and some transfer reinforcements on the way, Sanders is feeling good about the Buffs — even without that opponent for a spring game.

“I feel great about the program, man,” he said. “The sky’s the limit for us. I know that’s an old cliche, but it really is. It’s going to be on us to do what we plan on doing.”