An eventful spring for CU football is quickly coming to a close as Colorado’s Black & Gold spring game this Saturday will be the final time the Buffs play on Folsom Field in front of approximately 15,000 fans before the fall.

The spring included head coach Deion Sanders’ massive contract extension, a couple of transfer portal pickups and a disputed jersey retirement that was announced just days before the April 19 spring game, which will be televised on ESPN2 (2:30 p.m. MT).

Both Shedeur Sanders’ No. 2 and Travis Hunter’s No. 12 will forever be displayed on the east side of Folsom, but this decision has been met with a wave of online pushback. Sanders addressed the media on Thursday and discussed the ongoing debate around the jersey retirement along with a variety of topics surrounding the program this spring.

Colorado announced that Sanders and Hunter’s jerseys will be retired on Monday and many people took to social media to voice their opinions about the decision — including multiple former Buffs.

Most former Colorado players expressed opposition to the announcement as some cited the timing of the retirement being too soon as Sanders and Hunter wrapped up their careers less than six months ago. Former successful Buffs such as cornerback Deon Figures and running back Darian Hagan, who both helped Colorado to its first and only national championship, are just a couple of names that have been brought to attention as players that qualify for a jersey retirement amid this current debate.

Opinions and questioning of the decision have continued to be raised throughout the week leading up to the spring game. Sanders solution to appease Colorado’s former players: handshakes and hugs.

"When I start going back into something that I don't know nothing about, that I wasn't involved in, I'm gonna ruffle feathers because I'm gonna forget somebody. … Can we start off with me just shaking everyone's hand that played here before? Just giving them a hug right. They got to come back for that. Let's start with that.”

The decision to retire numbers is based on the discretion of the Colorado athletic administration and the current head coach. Athletic director Rick George oversaw both the national championship team in 1990 and the past two years with Sanders as the head coach. With the seasons that Hunter and Sanders assembled, George believes this honor was fitting.

“The extraordinary passion and loyalty displayed by CU Football fans, university alumni and former players is just one reason why Colorado Football is different,” George said. “As someone who was a part of a past great era of CU Football and who now has the privilege of being a part of the current one, I recognize that being a Buff is an honor and a privilege. Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are both great Buffs and exceptional talents who have been tremendous representatives of our program and of our university and led our team back to national prominence. Recognizing the accomplishments of a Heisman Trophy winner and record-setting quarterback who ushered in this new era of CU Football now does not detract from accomplishments of the past. Rather, it adds to the rich legacy of CU Football that has been passed down over the years by everyone who has worn a CU uniform.”

The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner put together a highly decorated season as he excelled on both sides of the ball. Hunter became one of most honored players in college football history last year after being named the consensus national player of the year. In addition to the Heisman Trophy, Hunter earned the Walter Camp Award and the AP Player of the Year honor. He was also repeated as the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player) recipient while winning the Bednarik Award and Lott IMPACT Trophy as national defensive player of the year and the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver regardless of position.

Sanders won the Johnny Unitas award as the top quarterback in college football in 2024. He was the unanimous choice for the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and named first-team All-Big 12. Sanders holds over 100 school records including career passing touchdowns, passer rating and completion percentage, the top two passing seasons for completion percentage and QB rating and two of the top three for passing yards, touchdowns, interception percentage, 300-yard games and games with at least three touchdown passes.

Most of the critiques about Colorado’s decision to retire their jerseys is centered around Sanders’ accomplishments as a quarterback. Coach Sanders is aware of the online pushback, but he wants to put the negative discourse around his son’s jersey retirement to rest.

“Let’s get the elephant out of the room,” Sanders said. “... We’re talking about Shedeur. We ain’t talking about nobody else, but if his last name wasn’t Sanders, we wouldn’t have this discussion. The only reason we’re having this discussion is that his last name is Sanders. There’s been so many thing accomplished at this university, it’s been unbelievable. I think we should be appreciative. … This is a new day. We’re doing things a little different.”

No. 24 worn by quarterback/halfback Byron White in 1936-37, No. 67 worn by guard/linebacker Joe Romig, No. 11 worn by quarterback/tailback Bobby Anderson (1967-69); and No. 19 worn by Rashaan Salaam from 1993-94 are the four numbers that have previously been retired in CU’s 135-year football history.

Colorado has 12 available scholarships following the departures of four Buffs into the portal (as well as walk-on OL Cash Cleveland). The Buffs will be a bit shorthanded for the spring game with injuries included, but as seen every offseason, Sanders and his staff are able to retool the roster with a variety of portal pickups.

The offensive line looks to be in solid shape with 14 scholarship linemen including the recent addition Memphis OL Xavier Hill. The Buffs have also added Campbell wide receiver Sincere Brown during the spring transfer window. Outside of the offensive line, quarterbacks and special teams, Colorado could use a transfer in each of its position groups.

Targeting players that will help improve the run game is a high priority this offseason, and Sanders hinted that his staff has a couple of running backs that may be on their way to Colorado.

“We’re going to run the heck out of the ball this year,” Sanders said. “I know we said that last year, but we didn’t get it done. We got to run the heck out of the ball, but we improved from the previous year. But this year with the offensive line that we’ve attained, our coaching staff we assembled, as well as what Marshall Faulk brings to the table, we’re going to run the football. You’re probably going to see two more backs out of the portal as well.”

Colorado’s running back room is in need of a boost. Micah Welch may emerge as CU’s go-to ball carrier, but the Buffs could benefit from new talent in that room with just four scholarship players among the group.

Along with running backs, Sanders and his staff will be active in the portal this offseason to acquire talent on both sides of the ball.

“Every area,” Sanders said about what positions he wants to target in the portal. “You don’t just sit back and think you got it. I think the kicking game is set. I think were tight in the kicking game, long snappers as well as kickers and punters, we straight. Everything else, we need to improve.”

New quarterbacks Julian Lewis and Kaidon Salter have been battling this spring to show the coaches why they should be the starting quarterback this fall. The five-star freshman, Lewis, has flexed his arm talent and accuracy while Salter has demonstrated his dual-threat ability on the ground and in the air.

“They’re totally different,” Sanders said. “They can play. They approach the game totally different, but we got to be better coaching to their strengths. We got to be better to put them in the right situations for success with those guys.”

Salter was the Flames' starter in two of his four years with the team. In those two seasons, he helped lead Liberty to a 21-4 record, which included going on an undefeated Conference USA run and a Fiesta Bowl appearance during the 2023 season. In that 2023 season, Salter became the program's top rushing quarterback in a single season with 1,089 yards on the ground. He ended up as a Maxwell Award semifinalist and won the HERO Sports G5 National Player of the Year award last year.

During his two years as a starter with the Flames, Salter passed for 4,762 yards, 47 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and rushed for 1,676 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Lewis has an ideal foundation for the future after eclipsing 10,000 career passing yards in his three years at the high school level — he reclassified up a year after originally being in the 2026 recruiting class — and completing 267 passes for 3,798 yards with 48 touchdowns and seven interceptions last year. He also helped lead Carrollton High School the Georgia High School 6A State Championship.

Even Ryan Staub is getting into the action as Sanders has been impressed with the returning signal caller's practices this spring. With these three quarterbacks, a new challenge has arisen for offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to craft an offense that highlights their individual skillsets.

“Every day they get better and better,” Sanders said. “They’re starting to understand the system. It’s tougher on Pat and the offensive coaches because you have two different type of quarterbacks, so you pretty much call in two different offenses. When this guy is in, you call it this way and this guy is in you call it that way and Staub, because he’s the most versatile, he can do a little bit of both. … It’s not easy whatsoever, but these three guys, Staub has had a tremendous spring to me. He’s in it as well.

“It’s just totally different because we had old reliable. We didn’t have to blink. We knew what we were getting on Saturday. Now we got to really think about this thing and see who these guys are so we can put them in the right position for success.”

For decades the surface at the Buffs' home stadium has been grass, but this season they are switching to turf. CU’s playing surface was natural grass until the 1971 season when it was replaced with Astroturf. The turf was later removed and the grass was reinstalled for the 1999 season.

This change was made in Colorado’s efforts to potentially play in the playoffs as well as maintain the fields conditions after non-football events such as concerts.

“We want to make it to the playoffs and we don’t want to play in the frozen tundra," Sanders said. "… This university is a magnet for events, so when you have an event, and you put a lot of wear and tear on grass, that’s kind of tough to bounce back on.

"When we have evening games, it's a dew that gets on the field and it gets pretty slippery for both teams. … Turf just assures us a better footing, a better surface and it takes a lot of pressure off our wonderful staff that’s doing the grounds.”

The new turf field will have the "Ralphie" logo at midfield, Big 12 logos, and the word "Buffaloes" across the end zones in black font, the Daily Camera reported.

Over CU’s spring break, Colorado finalized a five-year, $54 million contract extension making Sanders the highest paid head coach in the Big 12 and among the highest paid in the nation. Along with Sanders’ extension, defensive coordinator Robert Livingston received a two-year extension tallying $1.5 million in 2025 and $1.6 million in 2026. Livingston became the highest-paid assistant in program history and ranks among the highest-paid assistant coaches in the Big 12.

Making sure his assistants were compensated was a contingency for finalizing Sanders’ deal.

“I love it here,” Sanders said. “I adore it here. I wanted to get some things done before I was able to do what we did long term. Whether it’s our collective, NIL stuff … a few of the coaches as well, we got them taken care of. Then I came in and got mine done. I don’t like talking about me and talking about money, I’ve never been one to do that. I don’t even remember holding out even in football, baseball contracts for money. … I don’t ever remember fighting for, I just ball, the money finds you.”