Joel Klatt Flags Deion Sanders’ Travis Hunter Dilemma as Colorado QB Room Gets Strong Verdict

There’s no denying Deion Sanders still moves the needle in Boulder. “Coach Prime” has pulled CU out of irrelevance and into constant national conversation with little more than charisma, flash, and a full-scale roster flip. But entering Year 3, even his most loyal believers like Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt (the “forever,” not “former” Buffs, per his own words), know it’s less about the buzz and more about the brass tacks.

The Colorado Buffaloes aren’t just replacing a few guys. They’re replacing the guys. Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, Jimmy Horn Jr., and a ton of veteran firepower from a team that went 9-4. Klatt didn’t shy away from addressing the elephant in the room to BuffZone’s Brian Howell. “Well, talent acquisition is the lifeblood of the program, and they’ve done a nice job acquiring talent,” he began. “I think that they should be good at the quarterback position.” But while he acknowledged the QB room has quality depth—thanks to players like Julian Lewis and Kaidon Salter—the challenge is replacing otherworldly production, especially in the trenches.

“The line of scrimmage is getting better and better and better, and deeper,” Klatt said. “As opposed to like two years ago… the line of scrimmage was really poor and they tried to play around it and it was tough.” It’s a classic truth in football: you win on the margins—in the mud and the maul, not just the marquee. It’s Hunter’s departure that Klatt says leaves the biggest hole. “Can you replace Shedeur right away? No…” he said.

“The harder one is Travis. Travis was the unicorn of all unicorns… He was so good. He was one of the best players I’ve ever seen play college football. That’s going to be very difficult to overcome because it’s going to have to be multiple players that overcome that.” Deion Sanders didn’t just lose a two-way freak. They lost someone who distorted coverage, dictated game plans, and defined their identity. In Klatt’s eyes, Colorado must now replace a generational player with a patchwork of position groups.

Feldman echoed the caution. “The Alamo Bowl was a rough last game; you lose so much star power, so much of the identity and the leadership,” he said. “If he can get them to a bowl this year, I think that’s a big win.” In other words, forget the glitz and sideline shades—it’s time for substance. Feldman added, “I think they’ll be better on the lines than they probably have been. I think realistically it’s not, can you stay in the top 25, it’s can you stay as a winning program this year after losing all they lost?”

The receiving corps takes a massive step back, and Feldman didn’t sugarcoat it. “I’d be surprised if the receiving corps was anywhere near as good as what it’s been,” he said. “You don’t just lose Travis—you lose Jimmy Horn Jr., you lost [LaJohntay] Wester—I mean, that’s a lot of firepower.” With that kind of attrition, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur may have no choice but to pivot. A mobile QB like Salter suddenly feels more like a necessity than a luxury. “Maybe having a running quarterback is an interesting way to go for them in the transition,” Feldman added.

For a team built on buzz, 2025 might demand grit. That’s why freshman Lewis knows that beginning his freshman year with the goal of filling in Shedeur’s spot is the wrong way to go about things. “I honestly don’t look at it as trying to fill his (Sanders) shoes,” Lewis said in an exclusive with Buffs on SI. “I think I’m trying to create my own path. Me and Shedeur talked about it, I’m not Shedeur. It’s trying to build my own legacy out there.”

Joel Klatt predicts a baseline win for Deion Sanders’ Colorado in 2025

Joel Klatt knows he might ruffle a few feathers in Boulder—including those under Coach Prime’s iconic cowboy hat—but he didn’t hold back on setting expectations for the Buffs in 2025. Despite the program losing star power in key veterans, Klatt thinks that talk of a massive drop-off is premature. “Like I said, everyone—I think everyone wrongly—is assuming some big fall off from last year,” Klatt said. “And I honestly don’t think that’s the case.”

Instead, Klatt projects a steady step forward, even if it comes with a bit of side-eye from Deion Sanders. “I think that they’re probably baseline an eight-win team,” he said, before chuckling, “Deion’s going to be so mad that I said eight… like eight?? What you know, as you know, but if they can win a couple of key one-possession games, they can get to nine, maybe 10.”

It’s not flashy, but it’s real—and it reflects just how much Colorado has grown in the trenches and roster depth, even as the headlines focus on departures. And if Coach Prime can take this reloaded, less star-studded version of the Buffaloes to a bowl game or more? As Feldman also put it, that may be one of Deion’s most impressive coaching feats yet. “He’s different,” Feldman said—and for CU, different might be exactly what keeps the fire burning.