Shedeur Sanders Becomes Laughing Stock Over Award Category While Travis Hunter and LaJohntay Wester Shine in Different Honors

It’s another day for Shedeur Sanders and the Buffs to gather some brags. Just last week, it was announced that Shedeur, the Buffs’ star quarterback, is on the Maxwell watchlist. In fact, he’s one of 80 names on the pre-season watchlist, and more precisely, one of the few from the Big 12, making this a nail-biter for Buffs fans. But moving on.

Now, Shedeur and the team have received another honor! We’re talking about the 2024 All-American Preseason College Football Team and Individual Honors released by College Football Network this Monday. Despite a disappointing 2023 season for the black-and-gold pantheon, the Buffs’ two-way star Travis Hunter was named the 1st team flex defense, a title they created just for the versatility shown on both sides of the ball and a title they would happily rename as “Travis Hunter Award” in the future. Wide receiver LaJohntay Wester was listed as the All-American second-team punter.

The CU Buffs official football page posted about it, captioning, “Talent on all sides of the ball 🤝,” and featured a cool poster of all three. But it looks like the Buffs nation has taken the conversation on a different tangent altogether. 

If you expected Shedeur to be the 1st or 2nd team quarterback, you’re in for a letdown. Instead, he got no more than just an honorable mention in the quarterback category. Taking the top spots were Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, named the All-American 1st team QB and Offensive Player of the Year, and Georgia’s Carson Beck, selected as the 2nd team QB.

This isn’t surprising, is it? For Shedeur, he is still coming off a tough last season where he was the most-sacked QB of the nation. 52 times, to be precise, that even led him to rise again from a broken back, and several arm and ankle injuries. But taking nothing away from Shedeur, he still leads the school board for passing yardage in a season (3,230) and ranks ninth nationally in completion percentage with 69.3%. If he manages to find a breakthrough this season, while maintaining his passing accuracy along with strength, we might just be looking at Shedeur remaining as a top-10 pick for the 2025 NFL Draft.

Coach Prime is already in the works to better the defensive line this time, after pulling his son out of the 2024 Draft for reasons as typical as the 22-year-old’s father. “I don’t want my kid going nowhere cold next year,” Deion Sanders said.

Travis Hunter, on the other hand, was undoubtedly celebrated in the right spirits. He is a double threat. In the nine games he played for the Buffs last season, he racked up 57 receptions for 721 yards and five touchdowns on the offensive side. In his defensive role, he gauged 31 tackles to go along with three interceptions and five defended passes. Despite not contesting for three straight games because of a lacerated liver injury in the TCU game, these are exceptional numbers, forcing the NFL scouts to re-evaluate its usual ways of business to best assimilate the potential first-round pick into graduating as the first true two-way player!

This is still up for debate, mind you. Rumors suggest that Hunter’s raw and electric speed could still end up as his top talent, as opposed to a cornerback position that would require him to be more technically charged, putting his elusive speed on the backseat of things.

Meanwhile, the internet can’t stop pulling Shedeur’s legs about his snub. After all, compared to his fellow QBs, it is a lowly mention. 

“Beyond disrespectful”: Internet won’t stop roasting Shedeur Sanders’ snub

Now Shedeur Sanders has been surrounded by high praises for a while. He’s one of the nation’s best quarterbacks, a top pick for the 2025 NFL Draft, and a noteworthy Heisman contender. But all that hype turned into a joke when he was only mentioned in the ‘honorable mentions’ category for the All-American honors. One Instagram user commented, “Honorable mention is NASTY work😂😂wtf,” and another added, “Honorable mention is beyond disrespectful.”

It does seem disrespectful for a QB with a 69% pass completion rate. Plus, in his first year in FBS alone, Shedeur made 27 touchdowns. Now, this impressive individual feat is what kept him in the spotlight, even after a mediocre 4-8 season. Buffaloes fans are eager for the narrative to change and see their team, and their star QB, shine this season. One Buffs fan summed it up perfectly, “Honorable mention??? Man I’m sick of talking. Let’s just go f em up this season 🤙🏾🦬”

Meanwhile, fellow Buffs star Travis Hunter is receiving all his honors, despite coming from the same losing team. He’s not only on the All-American watchlist but also on the Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski watchlists for the best defensive player in the country. Noting this, one user brutally commented, “College football hates Shedeur 😂😂😂 smh.”

Though sarcastic jabs are flowing online, Shedeur is getting a reality check ahead of the season. He sure has some tough competition to face this Big 12 season.