(ThyBlackMan.com) Believe it or not, sports fans should be pumped about the start of the 2024 college football season. It’s already an historic season with a new 12 team College Football Playoff, the dynamic shifts of major college conference realignment adding teams to build mega conferences, and the absence of the greatest college football coach of all time, Nick Saban, who retired following Alabama’s playoff loss to eventual national champion Michigan. Those are some of the many headlines of what should be an action packed 2024 college football season but the spotlight of the season should be in Boulder, Colorado and the second season of the Deion Sanders-led Colorado Buffaloes.
Last year, the Colorado Buffaloes were perhaps the main story of the first month of college football. They upset TCU on the road as TCU had just played in the previous season’s national championship game. The Buffaloes scored 124 points through the first three games while also defeating college football blueblood Nebraska and winning a hyped rivalry game against Colorado State. Of course, most are aware that the “wheels fell off” of the team as the 2023 season progressed as the Buffaloes won just one game the rest of the season on the way to a lackluster 4-8 record.
Due to the presence of head coach Deion Sanders, the Colorado Buffaloes are reloading the hype train again. On the difference between 2023 and 2024, Deion Sanders was confident during spring practice saying, “You know what you have, you know the depth that you have and you know several other pieces are going to be added as soon as the spring is over. You know that’s going to happen this summer. We already know. Some names you may not know, but we already do. So it’s going to be phenomenal.” One of the new additions to the team for 2024 is highly touted true freshman offensive lineman Jordan Seaton, who is one of the most prized freshman offensive linemen in the country and a likely starter for the team.
It is in Colorado’s favor to have two of the best and most exciting athletes in college football in quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of Deion, and cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter. Shedeur Sanders is arguably the best quarterback in college football and returned to improve the Buffaloes win/loss record this season despite being a potential first round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Travis Hunter is a rare athlete who plays both sides of the ball in major college football while grabbing both interceptions and receiving yards as a starter at cornerback and wide receiver. His ball skills scream an NFL future at cornerback but he will be highly coveted like Shedeur should he enter the 2025 NFL Draft. Don’t be surprised if both Hunter and Shedeur Sanders have an unconventional experience during their NFL Draft process and carve a different set of paths, according to the elder Sanders.
There’s also another Sanders that figures into the 2024 Colorado Buffaloes, defensive back Shilo Sanders. Shilo is a starting safety on the team and is also allegedly facing bankruptcy, which isn’t the usual story regarding college football players let alone one with the family pedigree he has. The path for Colorado to get to six wins and a bowl game will be one of the storylines of the 2024 college football season but the talents of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter and the showmanship of Deion Sanders add extra to the bright lights on the Colorado football program.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines