An 8th-grade Colorado Jewish student was called a ‘stupid k***’ while being strangled by a laptop charging cord, in one of many antisemitic assaults by other students described in a Title VI complaint to Boulder Valley Public School District.
Colorado
Deion Sanders turn to Ryan Staub as Colorado quarterback foreseen by former coach
Georgia vs. Tennessee: Which team looks more complete going into Week 3?
USA TODAY’s Blake Toppmeyer and the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks break down where the Bulldogs and Vols are going into Week 3.
A former University of Colorado interim football coach has been predicting this would happen for quite some time.
It’s kind of a crazy story: Ryan Staub, who started the season as the third-string quarterback at Colorado, is now on track to become the new No. 1 QB for Colorado under coach Deion Sanders. Staub might even run away with the job if he performs well in Colorado’s next game Friday at Houston.
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He’s that good, said Mike Sanford, who served as Colorado’s interim coach before Sanders was hired in December 2022. Sanford said he’s been “predicting this for kind of a while” based on his knowledge of Staub and how he stacks up against the other two top quarterbacks at Colorado.
“My take is he’s the best quarterback of the three, period, no matter how they got there,” Sanford said in an interview this week with USA TODAY Sports. “The world of football still comes down to a meritocracy, and whoever’s the best ultimately is going to have the opportunity to get out there and play.”
Sanford recruited Ryan Staub to Colorado before Deion Sanders
Sanford, now the coach at Valor Christian High in Colorado, has an admitted bias: He’s the coach who recruited Staub out of Southern California and helped persuade him to commit to Colorado about 10 months before Sanders arrived in Boulder. Sanford also counseled Staub after Sanders brought his son Shedeur with him to quarterback the Buffaloes in 2023 and 2024.
Sanford was let go by Colorado after the team finished 1-11 in 2022. But Staub stuck with his commitment and served as Shedeur’s backup in Sanders’ first two seasons at Colorado.
For those outside the program, this made Staub easy to overlook. He rarely played except for a 23-17 loss at Utah in the final game of 2023, when Shedeur sat out with a fractured back.
Then when Shedeur left for the NFL, Colorado installed two newcomers in front of Staub for 2025: Transfer Kaidon Salter, who led Liberty to a 13-1 season in 2023, and Julian “JuJu” Lewis, a four-star freshman recruit.
Sanford still believed. He just wasn’t sure Staub would get an opportunity.
“I didn’t know he’d get that chance, that legitimate chance, because his arrival to CU didn’t follow the narrative to CU that probably a lot of people want with the current CU program, which is a five-star (recruit) or major transfer who had been a really significant player,” Sanford said.
Deion Sanders gave him that chance last week in a 31-7 win at home against Delaware.
Ryan Staub’s unlikely shot under Deion Sanders
Colorado listed Staub as the No. 3 quarterback behind Salter and Lewis before both of the team’s games this season. Salter was the only quarterback who played in the season opener against Georgia Tech, a 27-20 loss. After that, Sanders said Lewis would get his first college playing time against Delaware, which he did when he came off the bench for two drives in the second quarter, both of which ended in punts.
But then came the unexpected twist. As part of a tryout of sorts, Sanders put in Staub with 45 seconds in the first half, with the Buffs leading 10-7. Staub missed on his first two passes. But then he took over, completing a 31-yard pass and then a 21-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left before halftime. Then on his team’s first drive after halftime, he hurled a third-down pass for a 71-yard touchdown. By the time he left the game, the Buffs were up 31-7 after he led them on three touchdown drives in four possessions.
“This is a real-life story that’s happening right before your eyes,” Deion Sanders said at a news conference Tuesday.
Sanders said his goal in the Delaware game was to give each quarterback two series initially and then “somebody was going to come out of the pack.”
Sanders wouldn’t confirm if Staub would start at Houston Friday but acknowledged Staub has been getting a majority of the practice reps this week. He also said after the game last week that he had made up his mind about his next move at quarterback. “I’m not lost for direction,” he said.
Ryan Staub’s origin story at Colorado
Staub played high school football at West Ranch High in Stevenson Ranch, California, north of Los Angeles. It’s close to Interstate 5 near Six Flags Magic Mountain and is situated in a “dang wind tunnel,” as Sanford remembers it when he visited him there as Colorado’s offensive coordinator under then-head coach Karl Dorrell.
“I went out there to watch him throw,” Sanford said. “He was sweet, man, really, really good throwing session, did not miss throws. … I was super impressed that here’s a guy who’s not super tall (6-foot-1) and doesn’t have massive hands, and he just consistently was just piercing into headwinds, piercing it and throwing super accurate passes to two or three of his high school receivers. He just didn’t miss.”
Staub wasn’t highly recruited but got some scholarship offers, including from Arizona before committing to Colorado. He led his high school team to a 19-4 record as a starter and had 5,422 yards passing along with 687 yards rushing on 66 carries. Besides his throwing ability, Sanford admired his humble but confident character and marveled at his running ability.
“I was shocked at how he was willing to put his face in the fan and get physical,” Sanford said.
Staub then waited his turn at Colorado even though it didn’t look like it would ever come.
He could have transferred for a better chance elsewhere but didn’t. Why not?
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Staub said after the Delaware game. “I kind of fell in love with the process. I really enjoyed being here. I enjoyed being in this building under our coach. … I didn’t really know where I was at. I stuck my head down and just decided to keep working. And I got rewarded for that.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders has an overall record of 16-21 since taking over in Boulder prior to the 2023 season.
Where does Coach Prime rank among Big 12 coaches entering the 2026 college football season?
Deion Sanders No.15 in Big 12 Coach Rankings
On3 ranked all 16 Big 12 head football coaches heading into 2026. Deion Sanders is ranked No.15, only ahead of Kansas State Wildcats coach Collin Klein. This will be Klein’s first year as Wildcats head coach. He is a former Kansas State quarterback was most recently the offensive coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies.
A top this ranking at No. 1 is BYU Cougars coach Kalani Sitake. Sitake has been at the helm for the Cougars since 2016. He has accumulated an overall record of 84-45. In four of Sitake’s 10 seasons with BYU, he has led them to double digit wins.
Here is the entire ranking:
1. Kalani Sitake, BYU Cougars
2. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State Wildcats
3. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech Red Raiders
4. Sonny Dykes, TCU Horned Frogs
5. Willie Fritz, Houston Cougars
6. Lance Leipold, Kansas Jayhawks
7. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia Mountaineers
8. Eric Morris, Oklahoma State Cowboys
9. Brent Brennan, Arizona Wildcats
10. Dave Aranda, Baylor Bears
11. Scott Satterfield, Cincinatti Bearcats
12. Morgan Scalley, Utah Utes
13. Scott Frost, UCF Knights
14. Jimmy Rogers, Iowa State Cyclones
15. Deion Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes
16. Collin Klein, Kansas State Wildcats
Is 15th a fair ranking for Coach Prime?
What stands out right away from this is a first time collegiate head coach is ahead of Sanders, Morgan Scalley. While Sanders’ team struggled in 2025, it would be hard to rank him behind Scalley.
When Sanders was hired, the Buffaloes were coming off a one-win 2022 season. It was a controversial hire, as Sanders’ collegiate coaching experience came at the FCS level with Jackson State. The Coach Prime era in Boulder got off to a great start.
In 2023, Colorado began the season 3-0. It got going with a stunning season opening upset on the road against the defending national runner-up TCU Horned Frogs. The Buffs won their next two games against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Colorado State Rams to get to 3-0.
They hosted ESPN’s College GameDay for their in-state rivalry game against Colorado State. The country had their eyes on what Sanders had cooking. This undefeated came to a screeching halt with a road loss to Oregon. Colorado ended up losing eight of their final nine games to end with a record of 4-8. While the end was dissapoitning, it was still three more wins than the previous season.
2024 a major turnaround. The Buffs went 9-3 and made the Alamo Bowl. Buffs’ wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter won the 2024 Heisman Trophy and quarterback Shedeur Sanders was named 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
2025 was more of what 2023 was. The Buffs went 3-9, missing a bowl game for the second time in three seasons. Will they get back to a bowl in 2026?
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The ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has filed a federal civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that Jewish Student A was subjected to repeated antisemitic bullying, slurs, and physical assault by multiple fellow students at Southern Hills Middle School (SHMS) throughout 7th and 8th grade.
In one incident, students in Student A’s PE class attempted to play a game called “Jew touch tag” and said Jews were “dirty” and “contaminated.”
In another, in December 2025, a classmate reportedly fashioned a Chromebook charging cord into a lasso, threw it around the student’s neck and dragged him backward from a chair while calling him a “stupid k***.” This was deemed severe enough that the Boulder Police Department was called in to investigate.
Following this particular incident, the Boulder Police Department opened a Juvenile Court Referral for third-degree assault.
ADL says no meaningful action taken by school district over assault
As a result of these incidents, Student A no longer wears a Star of David necklace and does not share his religious identity with anyone.
ADL and the family allege that the school took no meaningful action despite being informed of the situation on multiple occasions. For example, the complaint says the school failed to enforce the no-contact order between Student A and the classmate involved in the Chromebook assault.
The complaint also says that the burden was consistently placed on the victim, such as reassigning his study hall class rather than restricting the aggressor, forcing him to miss a school trip, and asking him to leave class early to avoid crowded hallways.
“The record here is overwhelming: written pleas from the student’s parents, formal school reports, and a police investigation all point to the conclusion that antisemitic harassment at Southern Hills Middle School was pervasive, escalating, and severe,” said James Pasch, ADL Vice President of Litigation.
“Despite the family’s pleas for help to stop the harassment, the school district failed to effectively address it, a clear violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. No family should have to fight this hard to ensure a Jewish child’s safety at school, and certainly no Jewish student should face the threat of assault or harassment because of their Jewish identity.”
Susan Rona, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, noted that 167 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Colorado in 2025, a “stark reminder that antisemitism is not something abstract – it is showing up in our communities, in our neighborhoods and even in our schools.”
ADL is requesting that the US Department of Education require the district to take steps to comply with Title VI and ensure that this student and all Jewish students feel safe and protected.
Boulder Valley School District said that while it does not comment on ongoing legal matters, “we take all allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously.”
“We continue to focus on improvements to our policies, reporting systems, practices, and education efforts – all with the goal of ensuring every BVSD student feels safe, welcomed, and a strong sense of belonging.”
When you walk inside the Conoco station at the corner of University Boulevard and Bonnie Brae Boulevard in Denver, you can’t help but notice the history on the walls.
“Here’s the 40s. The 50s and my dad and uncle in the 70s,” says owner Ken Wilson pointing to the pictures on the wall.
Ken is the third generation of the Wilson family to own the gas station and service center.
“Grandpa Ken started to lease this out in 1942. My dad bought the business from my grandpa and my uncle worked his whole career here for my dad and for me,” Ken recalls.
In all, the Wilson family has owned the Conoco station for more than 80 years.
“I started working here in 1978 when I was 12, just part time in the summers. I worked through high school and through college and then did my own thing, and I’ve been back here about 15 years,” said Ken.
“It means so much to our family. It’s been a great business.”
But Ken is the end of the road for the Wilson family ownership. In February, a for sale sign went up at the Bonnie Brae Conoco.
“We’re just looking now. We’re not in a rush. It’s not like we’re going to sell and be done this year. We’re going to get a price we want to get, and if it takes us years to do that’s okay,” he said.
Wilson has seen a lot of change during his time working at the station and service center.
“There aren’t a lot of garages anymore. They used to be everywhere. There were four of them on this block when I was a kid, he said.
When asked what he’ll miss most, Ken points to his relationship with his customers.
“I’ve had customers now where I actually waited on their grandparents. And then their parents. And now them.”
As for what his grandpa would say if he could see the place now, Ken says, “I think he’d say he was really proud of what we’ve done. Both my father, my uncle and myself. Hopefully he’s still hanging around here once in a while.”
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