The Colorado Buffaloes won’t have Travis Hunter on the field for this weekend’s game against Oregon. The Buffs know, when they start this game, they won’t have Hunter. That marks a difference from last week against Colorado State, when Hunter started the game but got injured early on.
It’s worth asking our Pac-12 experts before Colorado plays Oregon and then USC: Who is the more important player for CU — Hunter or Shedeur Sanders?
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Don Smalley, Ducks Wire: The quarterback is always the more important player. Sanders is going to have to have the game of his life to win this (against Oregon).
Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: I think that while Hunter gets more of the shine because of his two-way ability, Shedeur has a bigger impact on each and every game, obviously. Hunter can have a bad game and the team still wins. The same can’t be said for Sanders.
Matt Wadleigh, Trojans and Buffaloes Wire: Hunter is a generational talent and has dazzled on both sides, but Shedeur is more important. The offense was slow going against the Rams, but as soon as Shedeur turned it on, it was a different story. Offensively speaking, the Buffs have plenty of weapons, but Shedeur is the coal that keeps this engine going.
Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire: Hunter is extremely important to what Colorado does, but if Shedeur wasn’t the quarterback, who would take his place? Instead of viewing this as an either-or answer, let’s go with a different approach: Both-and. They’re both Colorado’s most important player. We don’t have to choose.
Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:
Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State