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The Colorado football program’s recent decision to retire Travis Hunter’s No. 12 and Sheduer Sanders’ No. 2 jerseys was met with some criticism. Both former Colorado players’ jerseys were officially retired earlier this month during a special ceremony at the Buffaloes spring game.
Only four other players in Colorado football history have been honored via a jersey retirement. Colorado football dates back 135 years. The criteria applied to Sanders’ and Hunter’s respective retirements differentiate from what other former players faced.
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Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter (IMAGN)
In the 1990s, a student-athlete had to fulfill a graduation requirement prior to a jersey retirement. An athletic department spokesperson confirmed to USA Today Sports that both Sanders and Hunter had not yet graduated at the time of the April 19 retirement ceremony.
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School officials also clarified that the graduation criterion was never an official policy, saying it was previously the “preference of an academic counselor.”
(L-R) Shedeur Sanders #2 and Travis Hunter #12 of the University of Colorado Buffaloes speak with the media at Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World Las Vegas on July 21, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Louis Grasse/Getty Images)
Officials added that the athletic department administration, along with the head coach, can make jersey retirement decisions at their own discretion.
Michael Jones is one of the latest former Colorado football players to speak out as fallout from the controversial decision rages on. Jones suggested his former university outright lacks a jersey retirement process.
Shedeur Sanders, left, and Travis Hunter, right, react to their jersey retirements during Colorado’s NCAA college football spring game, Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
“For them to not have a process for the retiring of a number is asinine for an institution like Colorado,” Jones told USA Today Sports. “It’s just completely asinine.”
Darian Hagan, who played quarterback at Colorado, told the outlet that the controversial retirement decision left him “flabbergasted.” Hagan did not discredit Sanders’ or Hunter’s contributions to Colorado, but instead expressed his belief that he should receive the honor “someday.”
“We were always told there was a waiting period,” Hagan told the outlet. “There was a policy in place. It had to be voted upon. I was never told that it was at the discretion of the athletic director or the head coach. That was shocking news to me. It was hard to stomach.”
Sanders and Hunter played their final game in a Colorado uniform in late December in the Alamo Bowl. Hunter was the second overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders’ unexpected drop in last week’s draft was closely watched across the sports world and beyond. Sanders was eventually selected in the fifth-round and will begin his NFL career with the Cleveland Browns.
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Colorado won the national championship in 1990. Jones pointed to the program’s history and suggested allowing Sanders and Hunter to effectively skip the jersey retirement line contributed to “a serious ERASURE of our football legacy,” he wrote in a social media post.
Elsewhere, Colorado does have strict policies in place for its athletics Hall of Fame.
If a player is to be deemed eligible, the athletes must be a minimum of 10 years removed from their playing career in Boulder. The individual must also no longer be competing in any professional sports league, per nomination documentation.
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