Deion Sanders says he’s back to being “the old him,” and Colorado is hoping that version of its coach can help steady a program that spent last season searching for answers.
Sanders opened up Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas, about how a battle with bladder cancer left him feeling unlike himself for stretches of last offseason. Even when he was around the team, he said, he wasn’t fully the same.
“You don't have your it, you don't have that thing about you,” Sanders said on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. “Like when you're sick, you still have to get your butt up and do what you had to do, right?
But you still weren't you, but you were there. You were you in flesh, but you weren't you in thought process and thinking and the quickness and the being fleet of thought, and that's where it was.
So I'm putting that on me.”
Now Sanders is trying to restore more than just his own edge. Colorado is coming off a 3-9 season in its first year without Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, and the Buffs never found a consistent answer at quarterback while cycling through Ryan Staub, Kaidon Salter and Julian Lewis. Lewis is now the starter, but Sanders is making a point of easing the burden on the 18-year-old.
“What I don't expect, and this may sound crazy, but it's real, because he's a young kid, I don't need my quarterback to lead us,” Sanders said. “I need my quarterback to do what we ask him to do.
He's 18, and we're asking an 18-year-old kid to lead a locker room full of men; that's not fair to him. But what I'm asking him to do: make the plays that should be made and do what's necessary to be done, but you do not have to stand up in front of the team and hoo rah this, and hoo rah that, you do not have to run out of the tunnel first.
You do not have to get on nobody's butt, just do your job, man. That's it.”
Lewis won’t even turn 19 until the end of September, a reminder of just how unusual this setup is in a college game full of older, portal-hardened quarterbacks. He reclassified into the 2025 recruiting class and flipped from USC to Colorado during his 2024 high school season.
Sanders said this is a different situation from the one he had with Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, whom he described as “once in a lifetime cats.” He also said it isn’t fair to expect the same habits or same mental processing from players who aren’t built the same way.
The offense around Lewis is changing, too. New coordinator Brennan Marion brings the GoGo offense, built on shifts, unusual formations and multiple backs designed to create advantages before the snap.
Colorado’s protection issues remain a major concern. The Buffs have been among the nation’s most sacked teams in each of Sanders’ first three seasons, and keeping Lewis upright will be a huge part of his development. Sanders said he believes he has nine offensive linemen who can start.
Lewis also has a new target to lean on in Danny Scudero, who arrives from San Jose State after one of the nation’s most productive receiving seasons. Sanders was effusive about him.
“What hasn't he brought should be the question. He brings his lunchpail to work every day.
He has not missed one practice. Leader, dog killer, great young man, professional.
I called Julian Edelman and say, 'Look, man, this kid loves you. He is you to me.
He has that same tenacity that Jules has, and I hate comps, but I had to call him myself and say, 'Look, man, I want you to talk to this kid, because he's from, you know, where you're from in California.'”
Scudero may also provide some of the presence Colorado won’t ask Lewis to supply. Sanders said the receiver leads in his own style.
“He's not yelling or screaming,” Sanders said. “He's making plays, he's working his butt off, and then the whole team says, 'Oh my god, first in gassers, he's first in this, he's first in that, he's gonna take no days off, no plays off, that's just who he is.
He's not going to galvanize rooms. He's not that kind of guy, but let a quarterback not be there ready to throw.
You'll hear it, because that affects him, which ultimately affects us.”
How much Scudero lifts the offense could go a long way toward determining whether Colorado gets back on track. Last year, the Buffs never settled into an identity on that side of the ball. Scudero, who had nearly 1,300 receiving yards last season, could team with Texas transfer DeAndre Moore Jr. to give Colorado the kind of explosiveness it has lacked since Travis Hunter, Lejohntay Wester and Jimmy Horn left after the 2024 season.
In Other News...
Coach Prime Just Got More Bulletin Board Fuel From The Big 12
The Big 12s preseason All-Big 12 team arrived with a familiar kind of offseason message for Colorado: plenty of respect for the leagues established names, but none for the Buffs new-look roster. Even after bringing in one of the nations best transfer classes, Colorado was shut out of the list entirely, a reminder that preseason voting often says as much about reputation as it does about what a team might become once the games start.
For Deion Sanders, it is the sort of slight that can linger in a locker room. Colorados newcomers have plenty to prove, and the omission gives them a clean line of motivation heading into the season, especially for players like Danny Scudero, who arrives with a national profile and still found himself left off the conferences early spotlight. The Buffs do not need bulletin-board material to believe in themselves, but the Big 12 just handed them some anyway. [Read more 🡒]
Julian Lewis Struck A Different Tone When Colorado Faced Its Hardest Topic
Julian Lewis sounded more settled at Big 12 Media Days than he did a year ago, and that mattered for Colorado because the freshman quarterback is no longer just talking about arriving on campus. He spoke about understanding college football better, adjusting to Brennan Marions Go-Go offense and using spring practice to keep building, all while the Buffaloes continue sorting out a quarterback room that also includes Isaac Wilson.
The harder part of the day came when Lewis was asked about a teammate no longer with the program, a moment that shifted the tone of an otherwise football-heavy session. Lewis also touched on the season opener against Georgia Tech and even offered his quarterback Mount Rushmore, but the most revealing part of his appearance was how carefully he handled the emotional side of Colorados offseason, leaving the full answer hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Just Made A Derrick White Move Buffs Fans Will Feel
Colorados basketball program has been working to find its footing again after missing the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons, and now it has turned to one of its most recognizable recent alums for help. Derrick White, the former Buffaloes guard now with the Boston Celtics, is back in Boulder in an off-court capacity, giving Tad Boyles staff another voice as it tries to shape what comes next.
Spencer Dinwiddie, another former Colorado player, publicly backed Whites return in a video shared by the program, a nod that should resonate with fans who have watched the Buffs try to keep pace in a changing college landscape. The move also fits neatly into the schools push toward its next phase, with Whites presence carrying both basketball credibility and the kind of familiarity that can matter when a program is trying to rebuild momentum. [Read more 🡒]