From prodigy to proven. Shedeur Sanders’ tryst with College Football is complete. After coming through the concoction of eminence and effectiveness that was his career on the other side, one thing is for sure. It may have been difficult to see past the pageantry, but the 23-year-old ended his senior year as one of the best quarterback in the sport. His peers concurred with this, and his adversaries did too. The thing that separated him and his closest contemporary Cam Ward was one skill set in particular.

He had won over both the eye-test and analytics crowd around America. An athletic specimen of the highest ilk. You wouldn’t think so instinctively seeing his build, but his best attribute isn’t his arm strength. It’s his accuracy. Shedeur Sanders was no.1 in the country in completion rate. Alongside being 2nd in TDs thrown, 3rd in yardage through the air, and 5th in QB rating. To put that into perspective, no other quarterback is even in the top 10 of all four of those categories. Not even Cam Ward. Who’s rubbing shoulders with him in the NFL Draft process for being QB1 off the board?

Moving on, it wouldn’t be like Deion Sanders to have rose-tinted glasses on in affairs pertaining to his son, would it? This time around, the numbers did the work for him. He relayed the facts about just how accurate a passer Shedeur is. He wasn’t just the best last season. He’s the best of all time! As hyperbolic as that sounds, this was evidenced in an IG post by @biggdogg_chico.

In what looks like a screenshot from Football Reference, it shows the “Pass Completion Percentage Leaders and Record.” The list entails some of the most accurate college QBs of all time, and Shedeur Sanders is sat atop it. He boasts a gaudy 71.8% during his two years with Colorado. Deion Sanders shared the original post on his IG story. Contextualizing Shedeur’s achievement makes it look even more special. Or worse, depending on what context you apply.

Alas, the proof is seemingly in the pudding. However, the Sanders clan is synonymous with polarizing. For every proponent of Shedeur who believes in the sauce, exists a naysayer who doesn’t. In the comments section of the aforementioned IG post, a multitude of people from both contingents argued over the sanctity of the list. Over whether he deserves the moniker of the most accurate passer in the sport’s history, which it implies. Both sides presented reasonable arguments, including a caveat that raises eyebrows.

Shedeur Sanders’ real caliber splits the social media verse, as it tends to do

Right off the bat, one glaring omission in the record became apparent. “Including Jackson St it’s 69.95%,” wrote one person. The record only includes Shedeur Sanders’ 2023 and ‘24 seasons, not his freshman and sophomore endeavors, which dispels his case as the best ever. Mind you, 69.95% is still exceptional. Some of the best QBs in history don’t possess that figure. However, it does dull the sheen of the stat. Another skeptical comment read, “That’s bc that boy would rather take a 12 yard sack than throw the damn ball away.” A prevailing sentiment indeed.

People weren’t all spewing negativity though. One person said, “And without a good O line,” reiterating the perspective of how big an achievement this actually is given the circumstances. “But people say he trash he not an nfl QB 🤣😂🤣 I wish him all the best success,” wrote another. Another Shedeur Sanders fan foresaw the criticism coming. “Watch [them] move the goal post 🤷🏾‍♂️ Congratulations 🍾 #2,” they said.

It’s noteworthy that Shedeur Sanders did this behind an O-line that is infamous for offering him little to no protection. It’s only fair to admit that he was on an island more than a few times out there. Shedeur spent entire games moving left to right in the backfield. Yet, he kept his poise for the most part. At the same time, he had one heck of a receiving corp, with Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr. There is one other element that gives skeptics ammo for undermining his accuracy stats.

Shedeur took a lot of sacks, many of them untimely. This was epitomized during the Alamo Bowl. People feel he took a host of sacks rather than throwing the ball away or in difficult windows to preserve his completion percentage. During the Bowl game, he took sacks that put Colorado out of field goal range. That fans the flames of this theory.

In the NFL, pass rushers are a lot quicker than at the college level. Shedeur Sanders’ athleticism will be neutralized in a massive way when he’s playing against grown men of the highest ilk. This raises the prospect of even more sacks, even if he’s behind a stable offensive line. Running around trying to buy time is not translative to that level, as Caleb Williams learned this year.

Shedeur will need to take the easy passes from inside the pocket. Dink and Dunk, if you may. With how he’s developed year on year, it shouldn’t be a problem to integrate that into his arsenal. It’s easier to hone in on a monster than make one, and Shedeur Sanders is a monster, right?