No pressure, Jordan Seaton. Actually, sorry. There’s a ton of pressure coming. And it’s going to be coming from all angles.
There might not be a more important singular position on Deion Sanders’ 2024 two-deep than starting left tackle. Sanders’ son, future NFL quarterback Shedeur Sanders, impressed friend and foe alike in 2023 not just by throwing for 3,230 yards with 27 scores and three picks in 11 appearances. But also because Shedeur did a lot of it while running for his life.
CU’s QB1 was sacked a whopping 52 times, including four games in which he was taken down five or more times. If the Coach Prime Era is to turn a corner in Year 2, it starts with the offensive line doing the same. And a true freshman, a teenager playing at IMG Academy at this time a year ago, is the most critical line of defense in protecting the most irreplaceable asset on the roster.
If Seaton’s half as good as his legend, the Buffs may very well fulfill the elder Sanders’ promises to CU faithful. Especially if these five keys to 2024 all come together in unison.
Protect Shedeur:Obviously.
No, seriously, protect Shedeur:All right, all right! All it takes is one bad hit — or 50, in the case of last season — to toss any good vibes out the window. Without the Buffs’ offensive engine, CU probably isn’t going anywhere. The Buffs scored 24 points over their last seven quarters last fall without No. 2 at the controls. That averages out to about 14 points per game. Or roughly what good Big 12 offenses score every 15 minutes or so.
Stop the run: Foes figured out pretty quickly last year that the best way to keep Shedeur from hurting you was to leave him waiting on the sidelines. The Buffs gave up 195 rushing yards or more seven times in 2023 and, not surprisingly, won just two of those games. The front seven will be tested early and often until it makes opponents suffer for it.
Maximize Travis Hunter: Sounds counterintuitive to suggest putting the most talented college football player in the country on a “pitch count,” but hear us out. You’re going to need No. 12 for the biggest moments during the dog days of October and November in what could again be a mess of tight league matchup. A healthy Hunter could single-handedly turn CU’s record of 3-5 in one-score games last year into 5-3 or 6-2. He’s that good. And that is important.
Notch a road rivalry win:Coach Prime moved the goalposts up a bit from December to April — “We’re going to be in the CFP” last winter became “We’re going to get Peggy Coppom a bowl game” this spring, or words to that effect. But the latter’s very, very doable — if you’re sporting no worse than a 2-2 record coming out of home to NDSU, at Nebraska, at CSU and home to Baylor. A 3-1 mark after four games would also set things up pretty darn well, on paper. Although we’ve all been fooled by big Septembers before.
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Originally Published: August 28, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.
