Deion Sanders capped his third spring practice in Colorado with the annual spring game. Before it started, the jerseys of former Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders and cornerback Travis Hunter were retired.
“I looked in both of their eyes — I know [Shedeur and Travis] were pleased, they were thankful, and they were proud,” Deion Sanders said, via FoxSports.com. “That means a lot to me.”
The decision to immediately retire their jerseys sparked a controversy in Colorado, given that it’s happening so quickly — and at a time when plenty of other former players who are worthy continue to wait.
“The time frame, nobody’s going to be happy with,” Deion said. “Somebody’s always going to have something to say. But the way we are right now, we are a now generation. . . those guys deserve what they deserve right now. So I’m proud of them.”
While it may be a “now” generation, that doesn’t justify continuing to ignore those from the pre-Veruca Salt era. And the decision to quickly retire 2 and 12 does indeed seem to be a mistake.
Some could also question the decision to retire both jerseys this weekend and not, say, during home games that the players can attend — together or separately. If Deion thought doing it right now would lead to a spike in fans at the spring game, it didn’t.
Attendance for the event was 20,430. That’s sharply down from more than 47,000 in 2023 and 28,424 in 2024. (Last year’s drop was attributed to the weather; this year, weather wasn’t an issue.)
Deion noticed. “We do have a tremendous fan base, but we need a little more support when it comes to whatever we do inside the stadium,” Sanders said. “We should be packing it like it’s a game.”
That didn’t happen, even with the jersey retirements for a pair of players who helped spark the program’s turnaround. But, like Deion said, we’re a “now” generation. And Colorado fans faced with the departures of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter seem to be asking, “What now?”
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