The Colorado Buffaloes will retire uniform numbers 2 and 12 to honor Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter at the Black and Gold Spring Game on Saturday, according to CU Athletics.
Hunter made history last year as the consensus National Player of the Year, winning the Heisman Trophy, Walter Camp Award and both the AP and Sporting News Player of the Year honors. He was also repeated as the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player) 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.
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One of only three college football players to win eight major awards, he was also a unanimous first-team All-American, earning seven first-team (and eight overall) honors from the five publications the NCAA uses to determine unanimous and consensus honors.
Hunter finished his junior season with 96 receptions for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns, setting new CU records for receiving touchdowns while finishing second in receptions and third in receiving yards. He set a CU record with eight 100-yard games and led CU in scoring with 96 points, 16 touchdowns (one rushing).
On defense, he had 36 tackles, four interceptions and 11 pass breakups, leading the FBS with 1,483 snaps which included 86.8% of offensive and 82.9% of defensive snaps for CU. PFF graded him at 89.7 for receivers, the best in the Power 4 with 500-plus snaps, and he was one of only two defensive players to grade out over 90 percent in coverage at the Power Four level.
Sanders won the Johnny Unitas award as the top quarterback in college football in 2024, when he was named first-team All-American by multiple publications and second-team by the AP. He was the unanimous choice for the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and named first-team All-Big 12 by all the publications that picked the team.
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He completed 353-of-477 passes (74.0%) for 4,134 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with an NFL QB rating of 117.0 and college passer rating of 165.9. In two seasons at CU, he completed 651-of-907 (71.8%) passes for 7,364 yards with 64 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
One of the most accomplished quarterbacks in college football history, he completed 1,267-of-1,808 (70.1%) for 14,353 yards with 134 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. He threw a touchdown in an NCAA Division I record 49 straight games and is only one of two D1 quarterbacks to throw for 14,000 yards and complete 70 percent of his career passes.
Despite only playing two seasons in Boulder, he owns 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 3-plus touchdown passes.
Four numbers have previously been retired in CU’s 135-year football history: No. 24 worn by quarterback/halfback Byron White in 1936-37 (he also wore No. 8 in 1935); No. 67 worn by guard/linebacker Joe Romig (1959-61); No. 11 worn by quarterback/tailback Bobby Anderson (1967-69); and No. 19 worn by Rashaan Salaam from 1993-94 (he also wore No. 3 as a freshman in 1992).
The ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. ET at the start of CU’s spring game, which will be aired nationally on ESPN2.
