Jordan Seaton's arrival at Colorado was a significant achievement for the Buffaloes football program. As a consensus five-star recruit and the nation's consensus top-ranked offensive tackle, Seaton's high-profile commitment to play under head coach Deion Sanders was a bright spot in a tumultuous offseason between 2023 and 2024.

His arrivals came with high stakes, and yet he exceeded all expectations.

Seaton showed up and was instantly made the team’s starting left tackle, starting all 13 games in his freshman year. He played the most snaps out of every offensive player with 809 and only allowed three sacks in 612 pass-blocking reps. As a true freshman, he was thrown to the wolves in a high-pressure situation: Protecting the blindside of the nation’s most scrutinized quarterback.

Even in Shedeur Sanders’ absence, as Sanders is poised to be a first-round pick in this upcoming NFL draft, Seaton still speaks of Sanders' influence on him.

“How to be legendary,” Seaton said with a chuckle.

“Really just leadership traits,” he continued. “Not so much with voicing, but just in action. I’ve never kind of been a big talker or ‘yelling guy’ during workouts and stuff, but now [I’m] just leading by action. When you lead in action, you don’t have to say too much because you’re seeing it. You’re either going to rise to what I’m doing or you’re going to be left behind.”

Despite being just a sophomore, he still takes pride in wanting to be a leader of the group and setting the standard for what is arguably the most important position in football.

“I value this offensive line, I value this school, I value this program,” he said. “So for me, it’s like, it may mean a little bit more to me. So I got to do more, do extra, and I just want to be that guy where they can turn to and be like ‘Yeah he’s a young guy, but he’s consistent every day.’ So my goal is, I’m just trying to chase consistency.”

Still, he is critical of himself and expects more of himself.

“Sometimes, when I get tired, my lack of technique,” he spoke of as something he wants to improve on. “It’s why now we do sprints before we play team ball [in practice], so it’s just like trying to build fatigue in within the game.”

And his expectations for the season based on what he’s seen so far? A much different offense to that of the 2024 Buffaloes.

“My evaluation is that we’re [going to] run the ball every game,” he proudly stated.

Colorado’s rushing offense was the worst in college football in 2024. The Buffs ranked dead last of all FBS programs with 65.2 yards per game on the ground. Some of that comes down to Sanders’ tendency to take poor sacks 10-plus yards deep in the backfield, but anyone who watched the Buffs last year could tell that the rushing game was putrid on its own.

Seaton’s confidence in the rushing attack bodes well for Colorado if it is rooted in reality, and that starts up front with him and the rest of the unit.

“Just be confident and know who I am,” he said of his mindset for this year compared to his freshman year. “Know that I’m the best player on that field, and when I walk in the room. Just carry myself a certain way.