Colorado WR Montana Lemonious-Craig entering the transfer portal

After putting on a spectacular performance Saturday in Colorado's spring game, receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig announced his plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal Sunday evening.

A little over 24 hours earlier, Lemonious-Craig delighted fans with three huge catches for 154 yards including a 98-yard touchdown. However, the excitement for the Shedeur Sanders and Lemonious-Craig duo quickly disintegrated when the junior announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal.

The announcement came as somewhat of a surprise as Lemonious-Craig and Sanders were developing a close relationship on and off the field. Sanders was even with Lemonious-Craig when he posted his intentions.

“I go to my timeline and I just see somebody in the transfer portal man,” Shedeur Sanders said on his Instagram live while hanging out with Lemonious-Craig. “... MLC in the TP [transfer portal] right now man.”

Lemonious-Craig stayed with the Buffs last season as his WR counterparts Brenden Rice (USC) and Dimitri Stanley (Iowa State) left for other programs. Even among the offensive turmoil that persisted in 2022, he was one of Colorado’s most productive receivers recording 23 catches for 359 yards and three touchdowns.

One of those touchdowns was the difficult game-winning catch against Cal. Former starting quarterback Owen McCown suffered an injury midway through and J.T. Shrout was the next man up.

Shrout placed the ball right in the back of the endzone leaving just enough room for Lemonious-Craig to stretch out and quickly get his feet inbounds.

That catch was arguably the best CU football moment of the season and that was his first career 100-yard game as he finished with 119 yards receiving.

He pulled off a similar stunt in 2021 as he scored the final touchdown (16 yards) to send the Buffs into overtime against Oregon State. Colorado ended up winning 37-34.

In that 2021 season he showed many flashes of being great, and in 2022 he more than doubled his yardage (123 in 2021).

Lemonious-Craig joined Colorado in 2020 and he completed his career with a total 34 catches for 497 yards and five touchdowns over 23 games.

Not long after the junior announced his decision Sunday, another CU receiver announced his decision to leave the program. Freshman receiver Chase Sowell is entering the transfer portal as well after playing in three games and catching 2 passes for 23 yards in 2022.

The Buffs also had four-star cornerback prospect Ju'Juan Johnson back away from his pledge to the Buffs on what was a busy evening for the program.