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
Former Colorado Buffaloes stars Sebastian Rancik and Bangot Dak announced their transfer portal decisions on Sunday with Rancik committing to Florida State and Dak committing to Vanderbilt, per On3’s Joe Tipton. They join former Buffs guard Isaiah Johnson (now at Texas) as the third former Colorado player to leave the Big 12 conference as Rancik opts for the ACC and Dak heads to the SEC.
The trio of Johnson, Rancik, and Dak make up three of Colorado’s four most productive players with rising senior guard Barrington Hargress, and the Buffs are now tasked with replacing such production with Hargress as the only returner.
Rancik’s season ended prematurely with an injury, but he averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for the Buffs. Dak was Colorado’s leading rebounder with 6.5 boards per game, scoring 11.5 points per contest as well.
While each player has his respective reasons for transferring, the most expected ones are for seeking better NIL deals or more development on a better team in a better league. The Buffs finished 12th in the Big 12, and the allure of the SEC was too strong for the program to hold onto key talent like Johnson and Dak.
Still, Colorado coach Tad Boyle proved his ability to recruit and build up a solid core, one that saw its headliners of Johnson, Dak, and Rancik all depart in the portal. Can he do it again?
Colorado Buffaloes Roster Outlook
Boyle and the Buffaloes did retain Hargress as well as three freshmen guards: Jalin Holland, Ian Inman, and Josiah Sanders.
As a freshman, Holland averaged 4.9 points and 2.7 rebounds per game as one of Colorado’s key pieces coming off of the bench. Meanwhile, Sanders appeared in 33 games as a constant presence in the Buffs backcourt, averaging 4.4 points and 1.7 assists per game.
Inman played the fewest minutes of the returning trio, but he flashed with a couple of double-digit scoring performances as a true freshman.
“When I think of those three together, I think of toughness. I think of the improvement they made over the course of the season and the togetherness they have. They’re great friends and have formed a bond during their freshman year. Their toughness, energy and work ethic, when you have those attributes to go along with talent, which they all have, you get a chance to have three really good sophomores next year that will take the next step,” Boyle said in a release announcing the return of the three freshmen.
With eight outgoing transfers to replace, the Buffaloes will certainly have a new look to them for the 2026-27 season.
Colorado has landed one transfer portal prospect so far in former North Dakota State foward Noah Feddersen. On the recruiting trail, Boyle and company are bringing in four-star forward Rider Portela as well as two prospects from the NBL in Australia: forward Goc Malual and guard Alex Dickeson.
The transfer portal for men’s college basketball closes on Tuesday, April 21, meaning players have to enter their names by then. Transfer athletes do not have to commit before the portal closes, though, so Colorado is expected to continue hosting prospects on visits while building out the roster.
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Colorado
Colorado faces LA in first round as Kings captain Anze Kopitar embarks on final Stanley Cup chase
DENVER — Anze Kopitar wrapped up the last regular season of his storied career. The Los Angeles Kings captain wants to prolong his final playoff run for as long as possible.
Kopitar, who announced in September his plans to retire, instantly becomes a postseason rallying point for the Kings. They have a tall task ahead of them against the Colorado Avalanche, the top team in the league, with the top goal scorer in Nathan MacKinnon and one of the best defensemen in the game in Cale Makar. Game 1 is Sunday at Ball Arena, where the Avalanche are 26-9-6.
“Playoffs,” said the 38-year-old Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Kings. “I’m not going to say anything can happen, but we’ll go in and we’ll play hard and we’ll see where that takes us.”
This will be the third postseason series between the two teams and the first in 24 years. Colorado won in seven games during both the 2002 conference quarterfinals and the 2001 conference semifinals.
It’s been a record season for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche as they amassed the most points (121) in franchise history. That broke the mark set by the 2022 team, which went on to win the Stanley Cup title. MacKinnon had a career-best 53 goals.
Goaltenders Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood shared the net this season and surrendered a league low in goals. They earned the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is presented to the goalies who have played a minimum of 25 games — Wedgewood suited up in 45 and Blackwood 39 — for the team with the fewest goals allowed. The other goaltender to win that honor for Colorado was Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (2001-02).
“We’re in a good spot,” Colorado forward Brock Nelson said. “The mentality of this group throughout the year, right from the start of training camp, (was) set on a mission to be the best team.”
Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates the goal against Edmonton Oilers goalie Connor Ingram (39) during shoot-out NHL action, in Edmonton on Monday, April 13, 2026. Credit: AP/JASON FRANSON
Record against each other
The Kings went 0-3 against Colorado this season and were outscored by a 13-5 margin.
“You hear the hype. They have good players,” Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “We’re a scrappy team. We keep it close with everybody. That can really frustrate them.”
Leading after two
The Avalanche were 41-0-0 when leading after two periods. They’re the first squad to have a lead after two periods on 40 or more instances and capture each one, according to team research.
“Even though we’ve been smart, we’ve been committed, we’ve been relentless at times, it’s going to have to go to a whole new level now,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I have faith in our guys.”
Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who is retiring after this season, acknowledges the crowd after being recognized after losing to the Vancouver Canucks during overtime NHL hockey action in Vancouver, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Credit: AP/DARRYL DYCK
Remember the season opener?
Six grueling months ago, the Avalanche and Kings opened the season against each other. The Avalanche won 4-1 in Los Angeles behind a pair of goals from Martin Necas, who would go on to register his first 100-point season (38 goals, 62 assists).
The two teams join an exclusive club by becoming the fifth pair since 2015-16 to open the regular season and the playoffs against each other, according to NHL Stats. The other pairs to do so were Montreal and Toronto (2020-21); Colorado and St. Louis (2020-21); St. Louis and Winnipeg (2018-19); and Los Angeles and San Jose (2015-16).
Of those teams that won the season opener only San Jose went on to win the series. It’s a trend Kopitar and the Kings wouldn’t mind joining.
Kopitar and the playoffs
Kopitar helped the Kings to the Stanley Cup title in 2011-12 and 2013-14 along with goaltender Jonathan Quick, who now is with the New York Rangers and recently said he’s retiring. Kopitar has played in 103 postseason games with 27 goals and 62 assists.
“The intensity ramps up, everything ramps up,” Kopitar said of the postseason. “Every mistake, every little play, magnifies now.”
Familiar faces
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper was in net for the Avalanche when they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. In addition, Kuemper and Drew Doughty were teammates with MacKinnon, Makar and Devon Toews when Canada won silver at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
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