“Somebody’s Going to Leave”: Coach Prime Gets Real About Shedeur Sanders’ Backup as Colorado Looks to Secure Its Long Term Future

“This year wasn’t my year.” As Shedeur Sanders will enter the 2025 NFL draft next year, the Colorado Buffaloes have started preparing the roster for the upcoming season. Deion Sanders and Co. need to find a reliable QB to back them up because being left without a QB would result in a disaster for their team. But looks like Coach Prime is in no hurry to get one. Recently when Sanders appeared on The Pregame Show Network, he talked about Shedeur’s replacement and defined his reason for not making haste in locking down the QB.

During the interview, Coach Prime said, “I love what we are at one-two. I mean it’s hard to say one, two, three, four, five because that’s hard man.” While Prime seems pretty sold on the first two in the lineup, the next ones are where it would get interesting. “Like I don’t think nobody has that lock like if you got four def at quarterback that’s really good, somebody’s gonna leave. This is that day and era that somebody’s gonna leave…” This statement by Sanders hints at them not really having a plan right now. But things would have been worse if Shedeur had decided to enter the transfer port this season.

In the 2023 season, Shedeur played 11 games and recorded 298 completions on 430 attempts for 3,230 yards and 31 total touchdowns. It was reported that he decided not to enter the NFL Draft this season because he wanted to be one of the top picks. During the Buff’s spring conference, the 22-year-old QB said, “I’m trying to be the first quarterback off the board. That’s really what it is… There’s guys that’s special, there’s guys that are good and guys that are OK, game managers. You’ve gotta understand what player you are and what category you fall in. I understood this year wasn’t my year. I didn’t have enough time at this level.”

Even his father, Coach Prime strongly believed that though Shedeur had the ability, he would not have been the first QB to get off the board in this year’s draft. The Buffs QB threw for a single-season program record (3,230 yards) with 27 touchdowns against three interceptions and completed 69.3% of passes. This became the best mark in the program’s history. Last season, while he played behind the Buffs offensive line, he added four rushing touchdowns that allowed 56 sacks. Now, Shedeur has another year to improve and get better numbers to enter the 2025 NFL draft as a first-round pick as he wished.

On the other hand, time is running out for Coach Prime to find a replacement for the Buffs QB. Another reason for Prime referring to someone leaving might be the aftereffect of the ugly mass exodus that is underway at CU. Sanders and Co. hardly expected so many players to leave Colorado after some blazing Spring Bowl game, let alone expected them to put allegations on him. Looks like Prime would be extra cautious in treading in murky waters, especially now that he has the most in-demand high school prospects coming his way.

Shedeur Sanders’s replacement prospects

Deion Sanders is already hot on the trail of the high school football players who he knows would make it big in the CFB. Maybe even bigger than Shedeur Sanders. Getting an advantage over other schools, Sanders has already started the process of arranging their visits to Boulder to lure them in.

TJ Lateef, a four-star Orange Lutheran QB, is touted as the top replacement prospect for Shedeur Sanders. His visits to Boulder are going well, with Coach Prime giving him some extra meetings. Madden Iamaleava, Nico Iamaleava’s younger brother is also a target for the Buffs, since Pat Shurmur and staff assistant Nate Dodson contacted the Warren High School four-star QB for the class of 2025. Which one do you think would secure the position of Shedeur in 2025? Drop your thoughts below.