There may be no greater honor in the game of football than having your jersey retired by the team you played for. It not only recognizes accomplishments on the field, but it also can be a way to immortalize a player’s legacy and demonstrate their lasting impact on the program with that particular number.
In the 135-year history of Colorado football, only four numbers have ever been retired. #24 Bryon White (1935-1937), #67 Joe Roming (1959-1961), #11 Bobby Anderson (1967 to 1969), and #19 Rashaan Salaam (1992 to 1994).
Now you can add two more to the list after Colorado announced earlier this week that they would be retiring Shedeur Sanders’ #2 jersey as well as Travis Hunter’s #12 jersey.
My initial reaction was that Colorado wasted no time doing this. It can take years or even decades for a player to have their number retired, but not in this case. Keep in mind that it took 23 years for Rashaan Salaam to get his number retired, and he was the first ever Heisman Trophy winner in school history.
The other thing that I thought about was whether both guys deserved to have their numbers retired. That seems to be the million-dollar question people are asking. To me, Travis Hunter qualifies to have his number retired since he won the Heisman. Anytime a player wins a Heisman trophy, I have no issue with the school retiring their number or putting them in a ring of honor as long as they honor that player in some way, shape, or form.
Travis Hunter was one of the best football players I have ever seen and is the first true two-way player that I have seen play the game of football. I know guys back in the day did this all the time, but in today’s game, that is extremely rare, which perfectly describes Travis Hunter.
As for Shedeur Sanders, I think that’s where many people start to scratch their heads a little. It also made me question the decision when I initially saw the news. I even tweeted about it and said no. But the more and more I thought about it, the more I was okay with it.
Even before the news this week, I thought Sanders was the best quarterback in college football last season. Just look at his numbers. He threw 37 touchdown passes in 2024 with just ten picks and completed an absurd 74% of his passes. And don’t forget that they put up those numbers behind one of the worst offensive lines in college football.
Sanders was a great quarterback at the University of Colorado. During his two seasons there, he had 72 total touchdowns and threw just 14 interceptions while completing over 70% of his passes. It took him just two years to break the school record for passing touchdowns, and he also holds over 100 other school records. He was also the Big 12 offensive player of the year last season, was an All-American, and won multiple awards, including the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
I know everyone and their mother wants to bring up the record of 13-12, which was Colorado’s record with Shedeur Sanders as the starting quarterback. And to those people, I ask, what about Patrick Mahomes when he was at Texas Tech? He was 13-19 as a starter in Lubbock, but at the same time, he was one of the best Big 12 quarterbacks I had ever seen. And nobody batted an eye when Tech put him in the ring of honor back in 2022.
Just like Mahomes, Sanders didn’t have the greatest team around him. Keep in mind that when Shedeur arrived in Boulder, the team before him went 1-11. From 2003 to 2022, Colorado had just one season where they had won nine or more games during the regular season. And Shedeur led his team to a nine-win regular season in just his second year as a starter at Colorado.
At the end of the day, we all can agree on one thing. Both guys made a significant impact on the Colorado football program. There is no doubt in my mind about that. And even if their numbers didn’t get retired, people still would have been talking about these two players long after they left the program.
Whether you want to argue about both numbers being retired or the timing of them being retired, keep this in mind. At some point, it was likely going to happen whether you liked it or not. And in this case, the school decided to make it this weekend.
People can laugh about this all they want, but I say good for Travis and Shedeur. They were two great players and some of the best in Colorado history. I have no problem with the school wanting to honor them both, and since I have been covering the Big 12, they were some of the best players I have seen play in the conference. No,w are there other players who played at Colorado who also deserve to have their number retired? Absolutely, but I am not going to knock these two outstanding players for a decision made by the school.
