BuffZone writer Pat Rooney discusses three topics surrounding CU Buffs athletics in the wake of an eventful NFL Draft.

Shedeur’s fallout

How low will he go?

That’s what I kept asking myself as I followed the NFL Draft from afar last week. It was stunning that former CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders didn’t hear his name called until the fifth round.

Leading up to the draft, I wasn’t surprised Sanders’ best projections had slipped to later in the first round. Despite the gaudy numbers put up during his two seasons in Boulder, he wasn’t a slam-dunk prospect. He at times holds the ball too long, and his sporadic habit of scrambling backwards turned plenty of short sacks into big losses.

Still, I’ve always believed those shortcomings can be easily corrected at the next level. At CU, Sanders had absolutely no run game to work with. The Buffs’ ability to move the ball depended entirely on Sanders’ ability to make a play. And so he often held on as long as possible to try and make one. At the NFL level — behind a line that could protect him, playmakers surrounding him, and presumably a live body carrying the run game — those bad habits should be breakable.

By now, Buffs fans have probably read plenty about how poorly some of Sanders’ pre-draft interviews went. I’m still of the opinion he will be a fine NFL quarterback, but make no mistake, those interviews had to be epic fail-level disasters for Sanders to drop as far as he did.

NFL GMs aren’t defiantly locked arm-in-arm simply to make a point. They want to win games, period, and if they were confident Sanders was the person to make those wins happen sooner than later, he would’ve been selected before the fifth round. After that, I think Sanders’ fame worked against him, but not necessarily the way most folks might believe. Once the second round passes, if you’re drafting a quarterback, you’re drafting a potential backup candidate. Sanders will bring heightened attention as well as increased distractions. Some of it self-inflicted. Some of it not. But it will happen, and it wasn’t until the fifth round that Cleveland believed that tradeoff was worth the investment.

Historic haul

The drama surrounding Sanders overshadowed a memorable draft for the CU program.

Jacksonville made Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter the second overall pick, tying the highest draft selection in CU history. Overall, four Buffs were selected (also Sanders, plus receivers LaJohntay Wester and Jimmy Horn Jr. in the sixth round). It was only the fourth time in the past 22 years — a span marked mostly by frustration and losing — CU has had four players selected in the draft (also 2006, 2011, 2017).

Other than Sanders’ final landing spot, none of it was unexpected. But the draft haul offered yet another example of just how far the Colorado program has come in just two years under head coach Deion Sanders.

Spring lull

It has been relatively quiet on the recruiting front for CU men’s basketball. That likely will change in the near future.

With the latest window for college basketball’s transfer portal having closed last week, all the cards are on the table, so to speak. There is no more holding out for additional possible candidates.

It has been nearly two weeks since the Buffs landed a commitment from UC Riverside transfer Barrington Hargress, who filled the biggest offseason need for CU as a point guard capable of creating shots for himself and his teammates. As I said in this space last week, the next need has to be rebounding. Head coach Tad Boyle’s club was average at best on the glass and loses three of its most capable rebounders in Andrej Jakimovski, Trevor Baskin and Assane Diop.