Colorado's Shedeur Sanders is the most NFL-ready QB, but still no 'Mr. Magic'

Sanders will be playing on Sundays in the near future, but still isn't the best overall QB in CU history

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

While sifting through stench of a historic collapse against Stanford, it will be interesting to see what the bye week brings for Coach Prime’s Buffaloes. This much is obvious. 17 penalties, poor tackling, questionable decisions to forego punts in search of first downs? That’s a destructive cord of three strands not easily broken and a recipe for disaster.

In search of good news? It was the seventh-straight sellout crowd to watch the Buffaloes this season. Every game home and away played before a packed house. That’s never happened in CU football history. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders, despite the ill-advised interception in double overtime, continues to impress and has NFL scouts fascinated. CU's "Grown" QB can play.

As an observer of Colorado football for almost 50 years, including a front-row seat for the McCartney, Neuheisel and Barnett years, your scribe doesn’t think it’s a stretch to call the 21-year-old the most “NFL-ready quarterback in CU football history.” Only Kordell Stewart comes to mind as a rival. Athletic guys with powerful and accurate arms and dangerous running abilities. However, CU’s current signal caller is not the best quarterback in CU history.

That distinction still rests with Darian Hagan. No other quarterback has the resume of the south Los Angeles native. The delightful dude spent a freshman year backing up junior Sal Aunese before assuming the starting role before the 1989 season after Aunese’s tragic and fatal battle with cancer. I’ll never forget the first time laying eyes on the cat-quick and athletic freshman in the summer of 1988. A young sports reporter’s first trip to Boulder to meet head coach Bill McCartney and introduce myself as the KCNC-TV “Buff Guy” charged to, “Get in the back pocket of the CU football program.”

McCartney and I were sitting in Folsom Field’s northeast stands, “See that guy down there,” McCartney snorted as our attention focused on the south end of the field. “He’s gonna be something special.” What I saw? A handsome fella with a huge Afro and ample backside befitting an offensive linemen. I wondered. Hagan’s freshman year was a learning experience with limited playing time behind the Buffs undisputed leader in the southpaw Aunese. 

The next year? Holy smokes. All eyes were on the scampering sophomore, forced to step in after Aunese’s death and thrust into the national spotlight as the Buffs kicked off the 1989 season at home against a good Texas Longhorns’ squad. Early in the game, the slimmed-down triple-threat optioned the left side, cut up field, darted quickly to the CU sideline and sprinted north toward the end zone. Only the Olympic-caliber speed of Longhorn defensive back Stanley Richards, inside the ‘Horns five-yard line, denied Hagan pay dirt. The first “wow” moment of many for a virtuoso who would become known to Buff faithful as “Mr. Magic.”

The 53-year-old, currently a CU athletic department ambassador, NEVER lost a Big 8 conference game as a starter. The master executor of McCartney’s “I-Bone” offense went 20-0-1 in conference play from 1988-1991. The Buffs won three straight Big 8 titles and the school’s only national championship. The CU Hall of Fame member was 28-5-2 as a starter. Meaningful.

So many incredible memories still fresh. I’m asked by ardent CU faithful, “What was your favorite play from all those years? One is obvious, the 1994 “Miracle at Michigan” when Stewart launched a missile toward the Wolverine end zone. Wide receiver Blake Anderson tipped the desperate heave into the waiting arms of Michael Westbrook. Big House joy. Unforgettable.

From a purely athletic stand point? I frequently offer Hagan’s incredible 1989 pitch to running back JJ Flannigan at Oklahoma. Hagan was stumbling to the turf while running the option but had the vision and guts, while falling to the ground, to pitch the ball over a Sooner defenders’ head. It dropped like a feather into Flannigan’s lap. The speedy junior cruised to an easy score while Sooner faithful, in disbelief, had the look of, “What the hell just happened?” I’ll never forget observing those fans from my perch on the sidelines. What happened? They got a glimpse of “Mr. Magic!”