How Will the Colorado Buffaloes Fare in 2025 Without Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter?

Most programs' storybook season isn't a 9-4 campaign that ended with a loss in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Most programs aren't the Colorado Buffaloes.

Colorado was 1-11 in the season before Deion Sanders, a.k.a. "Coach Prime", took over the program, bringing former top recruits with him like quarterback Shedeur Sanders -- his son -- and two-way sensation Travis Hunter from Jackson State off an undefeated campaign at the FCS program.

It took an additional year in 2023 digging through the transfer portal to have the Buffs competitive, but they were alive in the Big 12 heading into the final week of 2024's regular season as one of the nation's top stories. Now, with Sanders and Hunter headed to the NFL, what can Coach Prime produce with a new cast of Buffs?

What is Colorado Losing From Sanders and Hunter's Departure?

If reports out of Cleveland Browns training camp are true, Colorado might have lost a starting NFL quarterback and last year's Heisman Trophy winner in one fell swoop.

That's a difficult loss for any program, but that's especially the case for a team that relied on them so heavily.

The Buffs were last in rushing yards per game as an offense (65.7) by over 10 yards more than any other FBS program, relying on Shedeur Sanders' arm and his variety of weapons. Sanders answered the call with 4,134 passing yards, an FBS-record 74.0% completion rate, and a 3.7 TD:INT ratio.

Some of the proverbial "circus" around Coach Prime saw Sanders fall to Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft, but there's a reason ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., The Ringer's Todd McShay, and The Athletic's Dane Brugler all saw him as a first-round quarterback on tape and production alone.

And that's before you get to the Heisman-winning freak of nature.

Travis Hunter posted 1,258 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns as a wideout on offense, and he had 4 interceptions as a lockdown corner on defense. There's a reason the Jacksonville Jaguars gave up next year's first-round pick to move up three spots and get him.

The latter's stranglehold on two starting spots basically means CU will be tasked with replacing three All-American-level players on their roster. How will they do it?

Colorado Buffaloes 2025 Season Preview

Frankly, it was a bit surprising to see Deion Sanders sign an extension at Colorado in light of flexibility to follow his son or hop closer to his home (Texas) or recruiting base (Florida) at a different job.

He seems committed to building up the Buffs in the short term, and there's no doubt he did that at quarterback. The team landed top transfer portal option Kaidon Salter from Liberty and four-star freshman JuJu Lewis out of high school.

Salter, a member of the 2023 Fiesta Bowl participants at Liberty, posted 2,876 passing yards and 1,089 rushing yards in 2023 before an injury-plagued 2024 season. He's an immediate dual-threat answer at the position while Lewis, a record-setting passer in Georgia, fine tunes his game at the collegiate level.

Hunter's role will be harder to replace, but Omarian Miller and Dre'lon Miller are productive returning targets with Sincere Brown entering as a highly regarded transfer from Campbell, an FCS school.

Colorado's season won't likely be decided by their weaponry as much as an offensive line that badly struggled in both of Shedeur's years at the school. Four new transfers join former top recruit Jordan Seaton, who started last year as a true freshman at left tackle. Deion is trying to infuse talent -- and a running game -- into this offense that now won't be slanted toward Shedeur's counting stats and his draft prospects as perhaps rumored.

Beyond Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, Coach Prime has continued to recruit at an elite level for the Big 12, which is among the reasons FanDuel has respectable -135 win total odds on the Buffs over 5.5 victories and becoming bowl-eligible for the second time in Prime's three seasons. They're a 4.5-point underdog at home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in an opening game that could go a long way to swinging that win total:

Competing for a Big 12 title is a longshot. The Texas Tech Red Raiders broke the bank in the transfer portal, and both Sunflower State quarterbacks are returning for the Kansas State Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks. Don't forget the names Sam Leavitt and Sawyer Robertson as NFL Draft prospects from the Arizona State Sun Devils and Baylor Bears, respectively, either.

Salter's up-and-down production at Liberty doesn't inspire hope for that type of ceiling, but the Buffs could be in a bowl game after a few marquee television contests with an improved offensive line, an actual rushing threat, and a lot of returning pieces from a defense that was 17th across FBS in yards per play allowed (4.7).

Though Sanders and Hunter are huge losses, Prime has enough parts to continue riding momentum at Colorado to much better results than the program had before he arrived.

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