BuffZone writer Pat Rooney takes a look at three topics surrounding CU Buffs athletics with the spring football game finally on deck.

Jersey controversy

Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders will join extremely select company in the history of Colorado football when their jerseys are retired as part of the spring game ceremonies Saturday.

Hunter won the Heisman Trophy. So getting this honor was a matter of when, not if. If the idea is to honor him before he leaves Boulder for good, so be it. The timing isn’t actually without precedent. Among the four CU players who previously had their jerseys retired, Byron White and Bobby Anderson received the honor within a year of playing their final games for the Buffs. Joe Romig’s jersey was retired not at the spring game following his last game, but the one after. It may feel too soon, but the timing is mostly consistent with CU football lore.

It’s the inclusion of Sanders that has raised eyebrows and drawn social media ire from a faction of former players. It’s not that Sanders doesn’t have a case. His merits offer a more than reasonable debate. Yet unlike a Heisman Trophy winner, there is no slam-dunk entry on Sanders’ list of potential jersey-retiring qualifications beyond being the son of head coach Deion Sanders.

I think Shedeur is a fantastic quarterback, and I’ve been surprised to hear rumors of his draft stock allegedly taking a hit because of his so-called attitude. NFL executives have been over-drafting far less talented quarterbacks than Shedeur for decades.

But jersey retirement is supposed to be reserved for a select few, a reflection of the best of the best from a program. Sanders wasn’t a first team All-American. He was 13-11 at CU as a starter. Yes, he set more team records than can be recounted here. But so did Sefo Liufau. Liufau’s senior year team won more games and played in the conference title game. Shedeur’s senior year team went 2-3 against the top 10 teams in the Big 12 and 5-0 against the bottom six. No one has clamored to have Liufau’s jersey retired.

The jersey numbers of White, Romig and Anderson have been put back in circulation. That means in the 135-year history of Colorado football, only three players have been deemed worthy of having their number currently off-limits. One is the program’s other Heisman winner, Rashaan Salaam, and even his number isn’t on permanent hiatus, as CU promised Salaam’s family at the time of his posthumous jersey retirement that it would be off-limits for 19 years (his jersey number). The other two are Hunter and Shedeur.

I’m not even certain Shedeur is the top player to wear No. 2 in program history (Deon Figures won the Thorpe Award and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December). In the ultimate team game, the ultimate CU team — the 1990 national champs — hasn’t had a single player honored with jersey retirement. Not Figures. Not Darian Hagan. Not Alfred Williams.

Not Eric Bieniemy.

Again, I’m still of the opinion Shedeur will enjoy an excellent NFL career. But this line-cutting among the pantheon of Buffs greats reeks of a university attempting to bolster stagnating ticket sales for the spring game.

Spring preview

An annual reminder not to buy too much into anything that unfolds at Folsom Field during the spring game Saturday.

As always, it will be a vanilla scrimmage, and the weather may not cooperate. However, I am curious to watch the trenches on both sides. The quest to replace Shedeur will take top billing, and understandably so. But in a controlled scrimmage, quarterbacks don’t have to worry about being hit. And when that’s taken out of the equation, they “should” function well and impress.

Up front, though, the Buffs have question marks on both sides of the ball. And even in a controlled scrimmage that first burst off the snap is as live as it gets. Even after losing some of the star power, the Buffs still project to be solid at the skill positions on both sides of the ball. The key to maintaining a competitive spot in the Big 12 will be up front.

Moving on

Been thinking further about the recent transfer portal losses of RJ Smith and Assane Diop, and what it means for the CU men’s basketball program.

They aren’t devastating losses in the simple terms of production. The late surge makes it tempting to forget the Buffs finished dead last in the Big 12 with a 3-17 league mark. Smith and Diop, combined, accounted for all of 11.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Smith showed flashes of being a reliable rotation guard, but on a legitimate NCAA tourney team out of the Big 12, he probably projects as a third or fourth guard in a rotation.

Diop is versatile and athletic enough he probably will fare well at a lower level. But in the Big 12 he was a classic “in-betweener.” Not skilled enough to be a three, not physical enough to be a post four, and not a good enough shooter to be a stretch four.

The potential problem for head coach Tad Boyle as he tries to get the program back on track is the recruit-and-develop approach that has served the Buffs so well during his tenure will continue to get more difficult to maintain in the modern game. Despite a few midseason hiccups, Smith was developing just fine, especially since it was his first full season on the floor since his senior year of high school (2021-22). To a lesser extent, Diop was coming along as well. But in the free transfer era, the easy fix of more money or more playing time elsewhere will mean more programs will reap the benefits of CU’s developmental approach. Smith and Diop can be replaced, but that dynamic will be interesting to watch as the Buffs welcome a recruiting class of five freshmen that Boyle hopes will play a key role in a program turnaround.