• Ryan Staub, who started the season as Colorado’s third-string quarterback, is now poised to become the team’s new starter.
• Former interim head coach Mike Sanford, who originally recruited Staub, believes he is the best quarterback on the roster.
• Despite being overlooked in favor of a transfer and a top recruit, Staub chose to remain at Colorado and work for his chance.

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.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser says Aurora residents deserve accountability and independent oversight following last month’s deadly police shooting that killed 37-year-old Rajon Belt-Stubblefield.

In a statement, Weiser said he was “deeply saddened by the recent death of a 37-year-old Black man shot by an Aurora Police officer.” He emphasized that, under Colorado law, “Aurora deserves a thorough and independent investigation of this incident. That investigation, called for under Colorado law, is being conducted by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, led by DA Amy Padden.”

The Aurora Police Department has been under a consent decree since 2021, after state investigators found a pattern of excessive force and racial bias. Weiser said the decree remains essential, particularly in addressing how officers use force.

“It’s an important part of the consent decree that there is a commitment to reflecting on how force was used in a way that is unnecessary or quickly escalated, and to make sure that learning comes from that,” Weiser said. “This consent decree is being managed by a monitor who’s overseeing progress. It’s important that Aurora continue to do that work to fulfill both the letter and the spirit of the decree.”

He says Aurora is under a consent decree because APD did not create and oversee appropriate expectations for responsible behavior, which led to the use of excessive force and the violation of the civil rights of its residents.

He also noted the reforms required include “creating specific guidance on officers’ exercise of discretion during interactions with community members to address perceived or actual bias in policing and improving use-of-force policies and training to avoid unnecessarily escalating encounters with community members.”

Weiser acknowledged frustration from Aurora residents who feel reforms haven’t gone far enough.

“I understand the community frustration, and when an incident like this happens, it is a call for us to ask the very important question, how do we do better?” he said. “That’s the reason we need to have an independent monitor that’s going to provide a long-term oversight solution, and it’s the purpose of the consent decree itself — to make sure that we work to make policing safer in Aurora and to build trust in the community.”

Weiser has previously called for a permanent independent police monitor after the consent decree expires, saying such oversight is critical to accountability and transparency.

“What I’ve called for, and the city has agreed to do, is establish an independent monitor,” he said. “It’s important that the city follow through on that commitment, which is critical to establishing community trust and transparency in policing in Aurora.”

Despite years of reform, Weiser says Aurora still has work to do.

“The consent decree remains a work in progress,” he said. “It’s being overseen by a monitor, and there’s still work to do. We’re going to keep an eye on that. It’s very important that Aurora takes seriously the commitment to review uses of force, to ask what can be learned, and to make sure that it is doing all it can to provide safe and trustworthy policing in Aurora.”