Tag: Colorado

Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts repeats as AP First Team All-American

This kid is good.

If anyone needed a clear-cut example of who the leader of Notre Dame’s vaunted defense is, they have it now. For the second consecutive season, safety [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag] has been named a First Team All-American by the Associated Press. He and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter of Colorado are the only holdovers from the previous season’s first team.

Although Watts’ five interceptions this season are fewer than the seven he had in 2023, he still leads all safeties in that category. The 12 he has in his collegiate career are the most for any Irish player since 1996.

He also has one fumble recovery this season, making him responsible for six of the 28 Irish takeaways that the lead the country. None were more explosive than the first 100-yard interception return in Irish history that might have been the most memorable touchdown of the victory over USC, and there were quite a few scores in that game:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3nlB9YIJFAI

Congratulations to Watts on this honor, and best of luck to him on the rest of the season.

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USC flips 4-star recruit from Colorado, turns tables on Deion Sanders

USC is making offseason waves with an early signing period splash, taking a player away from Deion Sanders and Colorado. Not bad at all.

In recent weeks, the USC Trojans have struggled in recruiting, losing some top commits. Whether due to the letdown of a season, finishing 6-6 overall and 4-5 in its first their first season in the Big Ten, or a lack of faith in head coach Lincoln Riley, the Trojan program has been losing recruits in flips. One of the top recruits lost was 5-star quarterback Julian Lewis, who decommitted from USC football and committed to Colorado under head coach Deion Sanders. However, on Wednesday, the tide began to turn.

Eric Henderson landed five-star defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart. That got the train rolling. Then came another bright spot, and a recruit who has risen for the Trojans. The experts pointed to this before the start of the early signing period: Allen Trieu of 247Sports recently reported that 4-star cornerback/safety Alex Graham was all but certain to decommit from Colorado and commit to the Trojans.

That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday, as USC gained a player Deion Sanders couldn’t retain.

Graham is a 6-foot-1 Detroit product. He is the 4th-best player in Michigan and 34th-best cornerback in the class, per 247Sports.

The flip marks an early offseason win for defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and secondary coach Doug Belk, who are both entering their first full offseason in their respective positions.

The fact that this defensive staff is getting work done in its first full offseason is a great sign for the future of the USC defense.

Broncos replace grass field ahead of Falcons game

The Denver Broncos used a local sod farm to replace the grass on the field at Empower Field at Mile High.

Prior to a matchup with the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11, the Denver Broncos gave the grass at Empower Field at Mile High a makeover.

The team’s stadium crew got the field replaced within 36 hours after playing the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 27, giving it three weeks to settle in before the Falcons game on Nov. 17.

The grass comes from Platteville, Colorado, which is approximately 45 minutes north of Boulder, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Chris Hathaway, the Broncos director of turf and ground at Empower Field at Mile High, wrote on Twitter/X that the main reason for the replacement is player safety.

The Walton-Penner ownership group famously trucked in a grass field before the 2022 season finale and replaced it again mid-season in 2023.

“[They] just told me,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said after practice Wednesday when asked about the grass being replaced. “You would have to ask Greg [Penner]. Meaning, our field has been in good shape. I don’t know what’s taken place since the last one. The one thing I do know is if Greg feels like it’s not to his liking, then he’s not afraid to do it. I literally just found out and [it’s] outstanding.”

The Broncos are one of 15 teams at 30 stadiums across the NFL to use a natural grass playing surface. After hosting Atlanta on Sunday, Denver will have three more home games remaining on their 2024 schedule.

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Watch: Young moose plays in snow until it sees reflection in window

Footage shows the moose prancing around a yard in Steamboat Springs, Colo., until it becomes startled by the sight of itself.

Fresh snow on a wintry morning can be invigorating for young critters that aren’t fully accustomed to seasonal weather changes.

That appeared to be the case, anyway, for a young moose Monday in Steamboat Springs, Colo. That is, until the moose was startled by its reflection and hurried back to mom.

The accompanying footage, captured by a Ring camera and credited to Shannon Lukens, was shared by Steamboat Radio with the description:

“How are you enjoying the snow this morning? This young moose is with mom and a sibling in the Fish Creek Falls Road area. It was doing fine until it saw its reflection in the window.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB8_Mj8ol_2/

Steamboat Sprigs is expecting snow showers through most of Tuesday.

Saints scout two of the 2025 draft’s best prospects at Colorado

The Saints stopped at Colorado’s campus to scout two of the 2025 draft’s best prospects. They’re in position to draft Travis Hunter or Shedeur Sanders, but will they?


We’ll see how the standings shake out after this week’s round of NFL games, but right now the New Orleans Saints are slotted in at the fifth overall pick in the 2025 draft after their 2-6 start to the season. That’s prime position to select a top prospect like Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter or standout quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

And last week the Saints were one of five NFL teams who stopped by Colorado’s campus in Boulder to scout the Buffaloes. Hunter is seen as a franchise-altering talent at either wide receiver or cornerback, and Sanders is competing with Miami’s Cameron Ward to be the first passer selected. It makes sense that the Saints would be keeping tabs on each of them.

But those aren’t Colorado’s only NFL prospects. Wide receiver Will Sheppard and safety Shilo Sanders should both be drafted in the middle rounds or early on Day 3. Another wideout, Jimmy Horn Jr., is a rising star, too.

Campus visits like this are common for NFL teams, so don’t read too deeply into it. They’re often used for information-gathering so scouts can fill out their reports after meeting with coaches, trainers, and even academic counselors. But if the Saints keep losing and end up in position to pick a playmaker like Hunter or Sanders? Well. Stranger things have happened.

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Deion Sanders suggests Dolphins should draft his son, Shedeur Sanders

Deion Sanders has said “it’s going to be an Eli” if the wrong team drafts his son. It seems he thinks the Dolphins are the right team.

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders promises to be one of the premier passers available in the 2025 NFL draft, but all signs point toward his father, Deion Sanders, turning him into far from the usual prospect.

The Hall of Fame cornerback, who now serves as head coach at Colorado, said on a podcast in March that “certain cities ain’t gonna happen” for his son and “it’s going to be an Eli” if the wrong team tries to draft Shedeur.

That’s a reference to the 2003 NFL draft, when Eli Manning was picked by the San Diego Chargers, but he was soon traded to the New York Giants due to his refusal to play for the Chargers.

So where does Deion Sanders want his son to land? It sure sounds like he’s eyeing South Beach.

“What do you do business-wise if you’re the Dolphins?” Sanders asked Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson on a podcast earlier this week. “Do you take a quarterback, which is what I’m saying, or do you say, ‘Tua, let’s check this out, let’s see what we’re going to do.’ Is his health more important than that?”

When Johnson suggested “Shedeur to the Dolphins,” Deion Sanders said “So you just got the revelation, huh?” Sharpe then told Johnson it’s the only reason Sanders even brought up the Dolphins.

“Don’t tell him, Shannon. Let him think he just thought of it,” Sanders said.

Through five games this year, Shedeur Sanders has 14 passing touchdowns with three interceptions, as well as a rushing touchdown. In the latest mock from Draft Wire, Sanders is projected to go No. 21 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders. Three quarterbacks — Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Miami’s Cam Ward, and Georgia’s Carson Beck — landed in the top 20.  The Dolphins were projected to take Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr.

Would the Dolphins even consider a quarterback? The most recent concussion suffered by Tua Tagovailoa raised serious doubts about his long-term future in the sport. However, the $212.4 million extension he signed in July may mean Miami isn’t inclined to move on from Tagovailoa until at least 2026 or beyond.

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Golfer shown aiming shots at elk herd; where’s the outrage?

Colorado tour guide threatens to call the cops after documenting golfer seemingly directing his shot toward a nearby elk herd.

A Colorado-based tour company on Monday shared footage showing a golfer seemingly trying to hit elk that had gathered on a driving range.

“This guy was intentionally hitting golf balls at this elk – this was not the first. What would you do?” Good Bull Guided Tours stated Monday via Instagram.

Good Bull Guided Tours specializes in providing elk encounters for clients. The elk that had wandered onto the practice facility included a bull and his harem.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DASLQ2qOgAZ/

The footage shows the golfer hitting a ball with an iron and narrowly missing the bull elk.

“If you want to keep hitting at the elk, I’ll happily send the video into the cops,” the videographer says to the golfer, as another man blasts a driver down the middle, away from the elk.

As of the time of this post, Good Bull Guided Tours had not responded to an inquiry from FTW Outdoors requesting more information.

Perhaps surprisingly, several people in the Instagram comments section defended the golfer.

“Definitely not going to hurt an elk with a golf ball,” one comment reads.

“It’s a golf range, not an animal sanctuary, if I paid for balls I’m hitting ’em,” another follower stated.

But a few expressed anger at the golfer’s careless actions.

Reads one comment: “The best thing would have been for those Elk to turn around and charge at them.”

Shedeur Sanders’ immaturity on full display at end of Colorado’s blowout loss

Shedeur Sanders is showing some serious red flags with his behavior after the Nebraska loss.

As ugly as Colorado’s 28-10 loss was the University of Nebraska on Saturday, the behavior of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was worse. Sanders’ sense of entitlement and lack of maturity were on full display at the end of the game and in the postgame press conference and every NFL team needs to be wary of this behavior when the 2025 NFL draft rolls around.

First up we have the end of the game when Sanders had been replaced in the starting lineup and with two minutes left to play, decided to jog off the field and to the lockers rather than stay out with teammates and shake hands with the Cornhuskers after the game.

But as immature as that might have seemed, what he did after the game at the postgame press conference might have been worse. Sanders threw his offensive line under the bus for not doing a good enough job protecting him.

Someone should remind Sanders that he’s not going to get those guy’s best effort if he’s calling them out publicly. The Buffaloes have a lot of football left to play but it’s clear Sanders puts himself above his teammates.

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Shedeur Sanders & Travis Hunter knocked down to reality after brutal Nebraska loss

The Cornhuskers blew out the Buffalos on Saturday.

It was a shining performance from the superstar Colorado duo in quarterback Sheduer Sanders and dual-threat Travis Hunter in the opening week of the season as both players looked every bit of the first-round pick they are touted as. Heading into week 2 more of the same kind of production was expected of the duo, but unfortunately, they ran into a buzzsaw that was the Nebraska Cornhuskers defense.

While both players ended up with a respectable stat line, it was hard to watch Sanders in particular get mauled by the opposing defensive line. Despite a Nebraska player nailing him just about every other play, Sanders still was able to pull through a respectable performance with over 240 passing yards and a touchdown. There were moments in the game that Sanders did look clearly flustered, however, such as his opening quarter pick 6, where he put a ball out for grabs that clearly should not have been thrown.

As for Hunter, while he was clearly still the top target within the offense, he was much more contained compared to the week before and failed to come down with a score. Hunter was visually frustrated with the Nebraska defense and the play of his own offense, and even a solid performance from the superstar could not save the day.

Both players are still set to be first-round selections come draft day, but when it comes to the quarterback race in particular, if Sanders wants to be the first one off the board he will need to clean up his play when it comes to tight games like this one.

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Shedeur Sanders solidifying his draft status with big season debut against North Dakota State

Shedeur Sanders got a statement win over NDSU.

There was already a lot of hype surrounding the Colorado Buffaloes and their superstar quarterback Shedeur Sanders – however, questions still lingered into the offseason about whether or not Sanders was a one-year wonder and if he could improve with a revamped offensive line. Sanders seems to have gotten off to a good start answering both those questions in a major opening win against North Dakota State.

In what was a game that ended up being some of the best that college football has to offer, Sanders shined all night long. As the clocks hit zero Sanders ultimately finished with 445 yards through the air and 4 touchdown passes to go along with one really wonky interception that was definitely not his fault.

This opening week performance builds upon what was his breakout season a year ago. Now granted it is just one week, but the revamped Colorado offensive line seemed to give Sanders that extra inch to make even more plays that he was missing last season. Receivers Jimmy Horn and Travis Hunter helped along the way, making NFL draft cases for themselves in their own right, and showing off a myriad of weapons for Sanders to work with.

Given the tone of his performance, his play in critical moments, and with what looked like advancement in his fundamentals, it’s clear that Sanders is already ahead of where he was last season. Should this level of play continue, Sanders will easily find himself in the conversation at the top of the 2025 NFL Draft.

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