BOULDER, Colo. – Colorado football coach Deion Sanders responded Thursday to a recent controversy involving the university’s decision to retire the jersey numbers of his quarterback son Shedeur and two-way star Travis Hunter.
Sanders called it a “sore subject” and said the blowback from it was because his son’s jersey number is being retired.
“Let’s get the elephant out the room,” Sanders said. “I don’t want to talk about this too long. I’m just gonna talk briefly and let it go. We ‘re talking about Shedeur. We ain’t talking about nobody else. If his last name wasn’t Sanders, we wouldn’t have this discussion. Only reason we’re having this discussion is his last name is Sanders. That’s it.”
After the jersey number retirements were announced Monday, some former Colorado players questioned whether it was too soon and brought up all the other great CU players from the past whose jersey numbers have not been retired by CU, including quarterbacks Darian Hagan and Kordell Stewart.
CU previously only retired four jersey numbers in its 135-year football history, including running back Rashaan Salaam’s No. 19, which was retired in 2017, 23 years after he won the Heisman Trophy and less than a year after he died in 2016.
What did the former Colorado players say about it?
It’s been less than four months since Shedeur Sanders (No. 2) and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter (No. 12) played their final game in the Alamo Bowl, marking the soonest CU ever has retired a jersey number of a player.
“Legacy matters,” former CU linebacker Chad Brown wrote on social media site X this week. “The past matters. Never want to take away from anything #2 or #12 have done. Amazing players. But to act as if CU FB was invented 3 years ago ignores the greatness in the past & the players that produced that greatness. Love seeing the Buffs win.”
Brown and former CU receiver Darrin Chiaverini called for a waiting period on decisions involving jersey number retirement decisions. They didn’t argue that Hunter and Shedeur Sanders were not deserving of this honor, just that it came quick and seemed to overlook the past.
“Legacy’s need time to be evaluated and proper steps should be taken so history is preserved properly,” Chiaverini wrote on X. “Congratulations to Shedeur and Travis. No doubt they are etched in Colorado Football lore but let’s make sure we honor those that came before.”
Hagan, who helped lead the Buffaloes to the 1990 national championship, reposted Chiaverini’s remarks on X. Brown added more comments this week.
“If the players from the National Champ team have not received such an honor, by default, this action dismisses, diminishes & for a new generation of CU fans erases their greatness,” Brown wrote. “I would never minimize the impact of #2 or #12, they are amazing players. But this timing is poor.”
Deion Sanders said he’s focused on the present, not past
Brown responded to Deion Sanders’ comments Thursday by phone to USA TODAY Sports. He denied his criticism has anything to do with Shedeur and said it’s just a matter of feeling the timing is ‘premature’ and that the decision is skipping over the past greatness of CU football.
‘To say you’re not responsible for the past, you’re not, because you weren’t there, but while you are here, you’re responsible for connecting this generation to the greatness of the Buffaloes in the past,’ said Brown who played at CU in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ‘Having been a member of the greatest era in CU football… to see that entire era of CU football passed over, it doesn’t land very well.’
Deion Sanders made his remarks as his team prepares to end the spring practice season with its annual intrasquad game Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The jersey retirement ceremony for Shedeur Sanders and Hunter is scheduled before the game Saturday at Folsom Field.
Asked about honoring the past, Sanders said, “I’m not into that. I’m into coaching football right now.”
He noted now much the program has improved since his arrival in December 2022, when the team was coming off a 1-11 season. He also said he made personal videos to honor current players leaving the program and that he supports other sports at the university, including soccer and tennis.
“They call me Prime McEnroe by the way,” Sanders said.
Before Salaam, CU retired the jersey numbers of quarterback/tailback Bobby Anderson (No. 11) in 1970, about five months after his last game at CU. CU’s other retired jerseys are Byron White’s No. 24 (1938) and guard/linebacker Joe Romig’s No. 67 (1963).
The controversy is in part fueled by the fact that after 1970, CU retired no football jersey numbers until after Salaam died in 2016, even though it won the national championship in 1990 and finished No. 3 nationally in 1994 at 11-1. That’s not Deion Sanders’ fault. He noted he is friends with Kordell Stewart and recently talked to former CU receiver Michael Westbrook, both members of the 1994 team.
“When I start going back into something that don’t know nothing about, that I wasn’t involved in, I’m gonna ruffle feathers, because I’m gonna forget somebody that I don’t know nothing about.,” Deion Sanders said. “And that’s gonna be a problem, and I don’t want to be put in that position. I want to be the good steward on what God has placed me over, and feel like I am.”
Colorado athletic director Rick George issues statement
The decision wasn’t announced without approval from others in CU athletics. In response to the reaction to it, athletic director Rick George, who hired Deion Sanders, issued a statement noting the ‘extraordinary passion and loyalty’ displayed by Colorado fans and alumni.
‘Recognizing the accomplishments of a Heisman Trophy winner and record-setting quarterback who ushered in this new era of CU Football now does not detract from accomplishments of the past, George said. ‘Rather, it adds to the rich legacy of CU Football that has been passed down over the years by everyone who has worn a CU uniform.’
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
(This story was updated to add new information.)