PAC-12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY

July 21, 2023

Shedeur Sanders

Travis Hunter

Colorado Buffaloes

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Can we talk about the shoes right away. This is excellent.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: Something I pulled out of the closet.

THE MODERATOR: Good to have you with us. On a serious note, check in on your father, how is he doing?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: He's doing good. I talked to him. Everything is good.

Q. How has Media Day been for you?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: Been real long. We answered the same question probably like 30 times (smiling).

Q. Shedeur, what makes you feel like you're not only one of the better quarterbacks in the Pac-12 but in the country? When you guys are going at it in practice, what gets the team more hyped, Travis trying to pick you off or you throwing him a touchdown?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: Luckily right now Travis is on my side. Whenever he's on the other side, I definitely try to go at him to work on my game, too.

To challenge the receivers, if they can't win against him, how are they going to win in the game? It goes back and forth. The beautiful thing about football, if my receivers win against him, he's going to work on his game. It's just an ongoing chess match.

Q. (No microphone.)

SHEDEUR SANDERS: I've been here before. I always did the same thing, just on a different level. This is the first time actually able with all the cameras out, on a bigger stage, that I'm able to perform and be myself.

Everything in this nature is 360 to me. We did it in Jackson. We just come to Colorado and do it again.

Q. Travis, if you had to pick right now offense or defense, what are you going to play?

TRAVIS HUNTER: No, I'm not picking at all (smiling). I got to play both.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: If he picked defense, I would have been mad at him. He wouldn't have gotten a ride home tonight.

Q. You're big names in this massive sport. I'm sure you see other people's expectations. Heisman candidate, one of the best two-way players in the last 20 years. How do you deal with other people's expectations versus your own realities?

TRAVIS HUNTER: I mean, you just got to block that type of stuff out. You know what you're here to do, what you're here to contribute. Me, I don't even really pay attention to what everybody else have the standard set for me. I just go out to play my game, get to the next step.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: Everybody's opinion doesn't really matter. We won't let that negative energy in the building, around us, social media. We don't pay it no mind because that's the expectation. Without any negative energy, how will we ever be successful? If they hating, feel some type of way we're not going to do this or that, that's fine, that's good, because whenever we do it, it's going to be bigger than ever.

Q. Travis, a new opportunity in Boulder. Where are you right now in terms of your health and the excitement?

TRAVIS HUNTER: Right now I'm good. I'm ready to go out there and play, go out and perform how I'm supposed to perform. What everybody else is saying they want me to do, I'm out there to exceed and just be great.

Q. For nobody that's watched you play before, how would you describe your game?

TRAVIS HUNTER: Freakish athlete that can play both of the sides of the ball.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: He is, though. He definitely is. I feel like this is the first time he's actually fully healthy. It's just different. The things, like, we're able to see and know the same -- even whenever we get different coverages, we're able to think the same way, know the same thing simultaneously. It's just amazing. That's why I love him whenever he at receiver. When he's at DB, though, I got to see it.

Q. So many new faces since spring ball in this roster. How have you made sure they get up to speed football-wise?

TRAVIS HUNTER: We pretty much just throw them in the fire. They got to join the loop. Play with us, move everything fast. You got to catch on quickly with us.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: They know my dad. They know Coach Prime, the rest of the staff. They know they're not playing around about that. They already got a great idea how things is before they came. We're going to do research before we go anywhere. My brother's YouTube channel and everything like that, they're going to tune in and see what it's like. They get there, it's authentic, nothing is fabricated, everything is going to be pretty natural.

When everybody gets around, understands we're humans, too, everybody is the same. As my dad, the coach, the guy that had the gold jacket and everything like that, whenever he's getting on to you, they're going to take it different. He's seen greatness, he still is, but he expect the same thing out of us.

Q. On YouTube, the thing that kept me watching all of them was the real bond and the joy that you have with your family -- your mom, sister, brother, dad. How would you describe that family unit?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: The family bond is real. I recognize that just sitting back looking at it from a different point of view. That's why I use the word 'legendary'. Everything we done so far has been legendary. The journey we've been on is legendary. That's why the word means so much to me.

Just thinking back three years ago, if we knew we was going to be in this position, we wouldn't have imagined we'd be right here right now. It's just surreal. We thankful. We just documenting and show it for everybody else to see.

Q. Shedeur and Mr. Hunter, you all played with authentic joy at Jackson State. How are you going to take that joy and bring that to Colorado?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: To bring the joy, just playing loose and being yourself. A lot of people don't want to be theirself and be uptight and so serious.

The reason I love how Travis play, him and Shilo is the same in a sense, they going to play around, but when it's time to lock in, they're going to lock in and still be human.

Everybody's focused, but it's just not overly to where it's not good for you. So that's just how everybody just be theirself. If somebody is getting bombed in practice or anything like that, we're going to tell them during it, shoot them straight on how it is. They going to respond to it or they're not. Everybody that's at Colorado now, they're going to respond to it the right way and challenge each other.

Q. A question about what life is like now in Boulder, Colorado. On campus, are you fully integrated into on-campus life? What is a day in the life on campus for you guys?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: Well, when it's sunny outside, it's amazing. You see everybody laying on the nice green grass, just sunbathing and stuff like that. I ain't never seen this before. It's just a different moment, just seeing the mountains and stuff in the background. It's just different. Food is amazing each and every day. It's great.

Campus is just cool. I'm just happy we're in a location to where we're separated from the world to where we have a little bit of everything, but we don't have too much of everything to where it would be a distraction. That's why I love being in Boulder.

Q. Who are some of the teammates you have seen in practice that have excited you?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: For sure Xavier. I'll say the receivers. Like me personally, I'm biased, I only speak on the receivers. Of course, the O-linemen. But I speak on the receivers because those are the guys I spend the most time with 'cause that's the hardest position to really get like a cool, genuine connection with.

I'll say Xavier Weaver, Jimmy Horn, Javon Antonio. Omarion Miller, Adam Hopkins. It's a lot. It's just hard to name everybody. Those guys, it's just different being able -- with Travis on offense, Jimmy, so many options. What car I want to drive today? Who I want to throw it to? Especially when everybody is up there at the same time.

I'm just real excited. That's it. And Coach Lewis out there calling it up, too. Just really excited for it.

Q. Travis, see any guys that have stood out?

TRAVIS HUNTER: Haven't been on the defensive side for real. I'm really with Shedeur. The offense, the receivers, doing a nice job. The defense is gelling a lot faster because they getting their plays down fast, so...

SHEDEUR SANDERS: Defense is different. Our offense, everybody in here, you know how coach Sean Lewis offense is. That type of offense is a trial-and-error thing. You have to work the kinks out. Everybody got to see everything through the same lens.

That's why I feel like offensively that's why I got to have a better relationship with all the receivers and stuff so we actually spend more time and be able to see things at the same exact lens.

Q. You guys come back here next year potentially, what do you hope we said about Colorado's 2023 team?

TRAVIS HUNTER: They did what they said they was going to do.

Q. Are you really not going to do a music collaboration with your dad?

SHEDEUR SANDERS: See, I don't know, because I'm going to drop a song soon. I don't really know if I'm going to drop one with him or without him. Just depends on how he is on a song. If it's not my speed, I'm like the management, I manage everything. If I feel like it's not my speed, then I ain't going to let him get on it, though.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.