Shedeur Sanders proved he can perform at the Power 5 level in 2023. Now, he'll try to prove he should be the first quarterback selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The conversation pinpointed at Sanders entering his first season at Colorado circulated around what his ceiling would look like at the Power 5 level. Twelve games later, Sanders ranked 10th nationally in passing yards per game (293.6) while putting any doubts to rest. However, as the 4-8 finish to the season depicted, it wasn't a flawless debut in Boulder and Sanders experienced his share of hardships as he tried to play through a back injury toward the end of season.

The majority of Sanders’ struggles were rooted in the ill-equipped offensive line that allowed him to claim the title of the most-sacked quarterback of 2023 with a total 52 hits. The offense’s decline in productivity through 2023 was often attributed to Colorado’s underwhelming pass protection, even with Sanders' ability to mitigate the pass rush while under duress.

Sanders made mistakes last season, but overall he elevated Colorado’s quarterback play tremendously and his presence gave the Buffs the ability to stay in games. Despite the obstacles, he managed to complete 69.3 percent of his passes with 3,230 yards, 27 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions.

However, before Sanders decides to take his talents to the NFL, he and Buffs head into new pastures in the Big 12 with a revamped offensive line and new offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur orchestrating Sanders and the offense. Similarly to last year, head coach Deion Sanders and his staff brought on a variety of new faces to help his son shine.

“I'm just excited to be back with the team to be able to have another year to do things over again,” Sanders said at the beginning of spring ball. “To do it the right way.”

There was a possibility that Sanders would leave after his junior season, but ultimately he decided to stay at Colorado for another year to position himself to potentially be the No. 1 quarterback prospect.

“I’m trying to be the first quarterback off the board,” Sanders said at the beginning of spring ball.

Sanders remained resilient after absorbing various sacks every week, but the consistent impact on his body resulted in a back injury and an unfortunate ending in his first season as a Buff. This conclusion wasn’t how he wanted to leave the program. Sanders’ rehabilitation journey began in December, and as spring ball rolled around, he was operating at full capacity.

Sanders still has much more to contribute to Colorado and at the Power 5 level if he is to achieve his top-end NFL draft goals.

Sanders is already in early conversation as one of the top quarterbacks for next year’s draft as well as part of the Heisman Trophy discourse alongside Travis Hunter. These accolades are all dependent on his performance this season and Sanders recognizes his areas of needed improvement to achieve these goals.

“Just improving, going through reads, going through everything, just improving footwork and just the small things really, because that's the difference between wins and losses are the small things,” Sanders said. “So just better decision-making overall, consistency. It’s a lot of things that go into the season and what I'm going to improve.”

While quarterback battles played out at programs around the country this spring, the Buffs' focus was and will continue to be all about getting even more out of their established star signal-caller