FRISCO, Tex. - Ben Finneseth has lived through enough Colorado football to know the difference between noise and substance.
In five seasons with the Buffs, the veteran safety has watched the program hit the bottom with a one-win year in 2022 and then climb all the way to nine wins in 2024 behind Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders. That range of experience is exactly why Finneseth believes this offseason feels different - and why he thinks Colorado is building toward a bounce-back in 2026.
The message he keeps pushing is simple: the players have to own it.
"You guys have probably heard it all the time - player-led teams win championships. That's how it works," Finneseth said at Big 12 football media days.
"The mentality that I've tried to get all of us to adopt is, who cares what the coaches call? We're the ones playing.
They might make a mistake. Who cares?
We clean it up. Especially us on the back end at safeties.
If someone screws up, who cares? We get to clean it up.
That's kind of the mentality that we've taken."
For Colorado, the lesson from last season came in the tight games. The Buffs dropped close calls to Georgia Tech, BYU and West Virginia, and Finneseth said those losses exposed a missing ingredient: accountability when the pressure spikes.
"We have to be one thought that, 'We're not losing this game. That's not an option.'
That's the thing that we were missing last year," Finneseth said. "You get into those moments, and you look to your left and to your right, and it's like, 'Do you want to win?
Or are you just here to collect the check and move on?' That was the frustrating part about last year.
But I can promise you that is not the way that these guys are operating this year."
Deion Sanders sees Finneseth as more than just a veteran voice. He called him an extension of the staff, a leader who helps set the tone in the locker room even if he is not listed as a starter.
"Just because Ben isn't penciled in as your starter, as your guy, as your killer, as your dawg, he's a leader," Sanders said. "If it's time to fight, he swings first.
If it's time to choke somebody, get him right and get him in line, he's going to the house and knocking on the front door first. You can't always equate the talent level to leadership and a guy that has CU tattooed on his chest when he takes off his shirt.
He is that guy."
Now entering his sixth season in Boulder, the Durango, Colo., native also sees a roster that has taken on an underdog edge. Colorado was left off the preseason All-Big 12 team, and Finneseth said that omission has only sharpened the team’s focus.
"A lot of the guys that we recruited out the portal this year came from smaller schools, so they're pissed off because they get told the same thing: 'Can you play at this level?'" Finneseth said.
"We're bonded by one mindset of we're gonna prove all these dudes wrong. That's kind of the mentality that we've bought into as a team."
In Other News...
Why Colorado Fans Are Starting To Doubt The Doubters
National expectations for Colorados 2026 season have cooled fast, with some national voices now projecting a losing record and no path to the playoff conversation. But around Boulder, the response has been less panic than pushback, because Deion Sanders has kept adding pieces through recruiting and the transfer portal while reshaping the staff around him for another run at relevance.
The optimism starts with the new faces, from multiple four-star recruits to offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, whose track record has fans believing the offense can be more dynamic. Colorado also has a schedule that will demand real proof early, and Sanders has already adjusted his recruiting operation with additions like Darrius Darden-Box and Rashad Rich, leaving the bigger question hanging: whether all of that talent and staffing can be enough to change the national story before the season starts. [Read more 🡒]
This Veteran Buff Is Starting To Feel Like A Future Staffer
Ben Finneseth has become one of those veteran Colorado players who seems to fit every layer of the program. Entering his sixth season with the Buffaloes in 2026 as a defensive back, he is not just part of the on-field mix anymore. He has also been active in the teams recruiting efforts, especially as Colorado has worked through the 2027 cycle and tried to build on the momentum it has created on the trail.
The Buffs have seen that class climb in the national and Big 12 rankings, a sign that the pitch is landing with more prospects than it did a year ago. Finneseths role in that process has only added to the sense that he is becoming more than a player in the building, and it is easy to see why some around the program view him as a name to watch once his playing days are over. [Read more 🡒]