Colorado football finished the 2022 season with a 1-11 record, firing their head coach in the middle of the season. Their lone win came against Cal by a score of 20-13. Otherwise, Colorado lost every other game by double digits, with the exception of Arizona State (lost by eight).
DraftKings Sportsbook puts the Colorado win total at 3.5 with the under juiced to -135. Colorado also comes in at +12000 to win the Pac-12, which tied Arizona State and ranks ahead of only Stanford. With that said, let’s dive into our 2023 Colorado football season preview.
2023 Colorado Football Predictions & Season Preview
2023 Colorado Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff
After a midseason firing, Colorado made the most impactful head coaching hire in all of college football, bringing in Deion Sanders from Jackson State. At offensive coordinator, Sanders hired Sean Lewis, who previously coached Kent State from 2018 to 2022. Lewis created some of the most dynamic offenses in the MAC, which should have Colorado fans excited. Sanders also hired Charles Kelly at defensive coordinator. Kelly worked as an assistant defensive coordinator at Alabama last year and should provide immediate assistance to a rebuilt defense.
2023 Colorado Football Season Preview: Offense
Quarterback
Colorado added Jackson State transfer Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion. Sanders is 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, and completed 287 of his 408 pass attempts (70.3%) for 3,063 yards (7.5 yards per attempt), 32 touchdowns and six interceptions in the FCS ranks last year. Sanders also has solid mobility, rushing for 173 yards and six touchdowns on 85 attempts. Sanders did take 21 sacks, which negatively influenced these numbers, but his rushing ability cannot be denied. Behind him, Colorado has almost no experience. They recruited 3-star freshman Ryan Staub, who could be pressed into action in the event of injury. They also have freshman Kasen Weisman as an incoming three star. Colorado will desperately hope that Sanders can navigate the entire Pac-12 schedule unscathed. Otherwise, Colorado’s season could be over immediately without Sanders. While the jump from FCS to power five looks daunting, Sanders provides an upgrade at quarterback, compared to recent seasons.
Running Back
Like most positions on this roster, Colorado gutted their running back room. They added three transfers here in Alton McCaskill (Houston), Kavosiey Smoke (Kentucky) and Sy’veon Wilkerson (Jackson State). McCaskill did not play last year after tearing his ACL in the spring of 2022. McCaskill is 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, and rushed 189 times for 961 yards and 16 touchdowns with Houston in 2021. He also caught 21 passes for another 113 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 2.7 yards after contact per attempt and forced a missed tackle on 15.4% of his attempts as a freshman. Smoke is 5-foot-9, 210 pounds, and rushed 59 times for 277 yards last year. He has 11 career receptions since 2018 and has never carried more than 101 times in any season. Smoke averages 2.76 yards after contact per attempt and a forced missed tackle on 13.3% of his attempts. Wilkerson is 5-foot-9, 204 pounds, and rushed 218 times for 887 yards last year, while catching 16 passes. He previously played at Delaware State and will now make the jump to power five. Colorado does return a pair of rushers from last year’s roster in Anthony Hankerson and Charlie Offerdahl. Hankerson rushed 68 times for 274 yards, while Offerdahl notched 150 yards on 150 carries. Colorado landed 4-star freshman Dylan Edwards in the 2023 class. The running back room should be upgraded here.
Wide Receiver
Basically every Colorado receiver on the roster is a transfer or 4-star recruit. The top transfers here are Xavier Weaver (USF) and Jimmy Horn (USF). Weaver is 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, and caught 53 passes for 718 yards and six touchdowns last year. He now has back-to-back seasons with 700-plus yards. Weaver played out wide 80.5% of the time and registered an elite 3.98 yards per route. Horn is 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, and caught 37 passes for 551 yards and three touchdowns last year. He played in the slot 92% of the time and registered a strong 2.28 yards per route himself. Jackson State transfer Travis Hunter projects to play wide receiver in high leverage situations. The former number one recruit in 2022, Hunter typically plays corner, but he also caught 13 passes for 140 yards last year. Expect similar usage from Hunter here. As for incoming freshmen, Colorado landed two top-300 4-star recruits in Adam Hopkins and Omarion Miller. Both should figure into this rotation to some degree. After that, Colorado added four more wide receiver transfers in Javon Antonio (Northwestern State), Willie Gaines (Jackson State), Jaylen Ellis (Baylor) and Tar’varish Dawson (Auburn). Antonio is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, and caught 64 passes for 690 yards and six touchdowns last year. He was second-team all-Southland Conference. Gaines is 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, and caught 20 passes for 372 yards and five touchdowns with Jackson State last year. He played in the slot 95.9% of the time last year. Ellis is 6-foot-3, 184 pounds, but he only has five catches over the last five years. He originally came to Baylor as a 4-star recruit, but he never quite carved out a role for himself. Dawson is 5-foot-10, 161 pounds, and caught two passes for Auburn last year in four games played. He also came to Auburn as a 4-star recruit in 2021. It is impossible to deny that Colorado’s receivers are better this year. The real question has to do with their ceiling as a group in this conference.
Tight End
An interesting situation, Colorado actually held a few tight ends from last year’s team. This includes Louis Passarello, who played just 24 snaps as a freshman last year. However, he drew rave reviews from Sanders coming out of spring and now tentatively projects to start. He did not catch any passes last year, but he is 6-foot-5, 250 pounds. They also added former Iowa tight end Elijah Yelverton, who had previously medically retired. He barely played at Iowa. Erik Olsen and Caleb Fauria return after 154 and 159 snaps last year. Neither caught more than five passes last year or showed anything from a blocking perspective. With Brady Russell gone, it is hard to decipher if this position improved or not.
Offensive Line
Colorado lost three starters from an offensive line unit that ranked 59th in pass blocking last year. The departures include guard Casey Roddick, guard Tommy Brown, tackle Jake Wiley and center Austin Johnson. Fortunately, the team retained starters in Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan and Van Wells. Wells played 397 snaps at center and guard last year as a true freshman. Christian-Lichtenhan played 499 snaps at left tackle in his first year as a starter. The rest of Colorado’s will rely on transfers. Colorado should rely on both here and expect a step forward in their second season starting. At left guard, Colorado has a battle between Jack Bailey (Kent State) and Landon Bebee (Montana State). Bailey started for two seasons with Kent State, culminating in 880 snaps last year. He proved efficient as a pass blocker and should be the frontrunner here. Bebee played left tackle for Montana State over the last three years. Undersized for tackle in the power five, he profiles more as a guard and will push Bailey this summer. Right guard should be Tyler Brown (Jackson State). Previously playing for Louisiana, Brown started at left guard for Jackson State last year, playing 762 snaps. He posted some elite pass blocking numbers at this level of competition, allowing just nine quarterback pressures all year. Right tackle looks like Kent State transfer Savion Williams, who is 6-foot-8, 320 pounds. He started last year and played 789 games with elite pass blocking numbers. If one of these guys doesn’t work out, Colorado added five other transfers in Reggie Young (Liberty), Jack Wilty (junior college), Isaiah Jatta (junior college), Kareem Harden (junior college) and David Conner (Florida). Young played 132 snaps for Liberty in five games. Wilty comes from the junior college ranks after previously spending time with Northern Illinois. Jatta and Harden also come from the junior college ranks. Conner is a freshman, who previously spent time with Florida. He tore his pectoral in the spring and will be out for a bit. Ultimately, the offensive line was the strength of last year’s team. They should be able to play at a comparable level this year.
2023 Colorado Football Season Preview: Defense
Colorado ranked 131st on defense in 2022. This included the 131st-ranked run defense, 130th-ranked pass rush and 131st-ranked secondary. The defense is completely rebuilt, with only one projected starter from last year’s roster. Currently, they have 30 defensive transfers, which may not even be accurate at the time of reading this.
Defensive Line
The edge group added seven transfers with Jordan Domineck (Arkansas), Derrick McLendon II (Florida State), Taijh Alston (West Virginia) and Sav’ell Smalls (Washington) expected to be the main contributors. Domineck played 270 snaps for Arkansas last year after previously playing for Georgia Tech. McLendon played 475 snaps for Florida State last year, registering 29 quarterback pressures. Alston logged 385 snaps with the Mountaineers last year. His best season came in 2021, where he registered 36 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and five sacks. Smalls only played 211 snaps last year but should find his way into this rotation. Colorado added Deeve Harris (Old Dominion), Tristan Marois (Robert Morris) and Khairi Manns (Maine) for depth pieces. All three have over 300 snaps from their respective programs last year.
On the interior, Colorado added eight transfers with Leonard Payne Jr. (Fresno State), Shane Cokes (Dartmouth), Bishop Thomas (Florida State) and Chazz Wallace (Old Dominion) expected to be the main contributors. Payne only played 160 snaps last year, but he previously played 422 in 2021 and posted some solid efficiency numbers. Cokes comes in with two years of starting experience and earned second-team All-Ivy honors last year. Thomas only played six snaps last year, but he was a top-500 player in last year’s recruiting class. Wallace played 358 snaps last year and stood up particularly well against the run. Beyond these four, Colorado added Amari McNeill (Tennessee), Jibran Hawkins (Ole Miss), Arden Walker (Missouri) and Marshawn Kneeland (Western Michigan). Kneeland has the most experience of this group with 1,020 snaps in three years. The rest barely saw over 100 last year. Colorado may opt to move some of these transfers across the defensive line, but it is impossible for this unit to be worse than 2022.
Linebacker
Colorado added four transfers in Demouy Kennedy (Alabama), LaVonta Bentley (Clemson), Jeremiah Brown (Jackson State) and Brendan Gant (Florida State). Kennedy never earned much playing time with the Crimson Tide, but he was the 39th-ranked player in his 2020 recruiting class. Bentley played 157 snaps last year with Clemson, but he also never quite carved out a starting role with the Tigers. He was a 4-star recruit back in the 2019 season. Brown started with Sanders at Jackson State last year. Gant played 158 snaps with the Seminoles last year and now has 779 snaps over his four-year career. He is another 4-star recruit from the 2019 class. Like the defensive line, it is impossible for this unit to be worse this year.
Defensive Back
At corner, Colorado landed six transfers and a 5-star freshman in Cormani McClain. McClain enters the program as the 14th overall player in this year’s class and should receive the opportunity to start immediately. The other full-time corner should be former top recruit Travis Hunter. Hunter started with Jackson State last year and is one of the best raw athletes in all of college football. Their slot corner projects to be Arkansas transfer Myles Slusher. Slusher only played 335 snaps last year, but that came as a result of injury. Slusher also started in 2021, recording 50 tackles that season. As for the rest of the transfers, Colorado landed Kyndrich Breedlove (Ole Miss), Omarion Cooper (Florida State), Jahquez Robinson (Alabama) and Carter Stoutmire (Arizona). Cooper and Robinson are the most interesting names here. Cooper played 308 snaps with the Seminoles last year. Robinson did not play much with the Crimson Tide, but he is a former 4-star recruit from the 2022 class. Stoutmire is an incoming freshman, who flipped from Arizona this summer.
Safety looks a little different with Trevor Woods actually returning as a starter. However, Colorado still added five transfers at this position. Woods actually played 523 snaps last year and finished as Colorado’s top defender, according to PFF. The Buffaloes added Shilo Sanders (Jackson State), Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig (Jackson State), Rodrick Ward (Southern Utah), Vito Tisdale (Kentucky) and Travis Jay (Florida State) at the position. Sanders played 318 snaps last year, but spent some of the year injured after an ACL tear. Silmon-Craig played 606 snaps with Jackson State last year, giving him two years of starting experience. Ward also has two years of starting experience at the FCS level. He earned first team all-conference honors last year. Tisdale is a former top-500 recruit, who Kentucky recently kicked off the team for a violation of rules. He played over 200 snaps back in 2021. Jay has 446 snaps between 2020 and 2021 with Florida State. Again, it is impossible for this secondary to be any worse than 2022.
2023 Colorado Football Predictions & Schedule
2023 Colorado Football Schedule
The Buffaloes play a non-conference schedule consisting of TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State. Within Pac-12 play, they draw Oregon, USC, UCLA, Oregon State and Utah from the top half of the conference. Fortunately, they also play Stanford and a few other teams from the bottom of the conference.
2023 Colorado Football Futures Bet & Prediction
The Colorado over/under 3.5 wins is juiced to -135 towards the under. The Buffaloes should pick up at least one win in non-conference over Colorado State. However, they will only be favored considerable against Stanford if conference play started today. Among the bottom half of the league, they travel to Arizona State and Washington State, while hosting Arizona. Their best bet at hitting this win total might be clipping a rebuilding Nebraska team early, but do not expect them to be favored. Despite wanting to go the other way, under 3.5 at -135 is the only bet that makes sense here.
Best Colorado Football Futures Bet: Under 3.5 Wins (-135 at DraftKings)
You can read the rest of Matt Gajewski’s 2023 college football season previews and predictions below!
- Alabama Season Preview & Predictions
- Arizona Season Preview & Predictions
- Arizona State Season Preview & Predictions
- Arkansas Season Preview & Predictions
- Auburn Season Preview & Predictions
- Baylor Season Preview & Predictions
- Cal Season Preview & Predictions
- Clemson Season Preview & Predictions
- Florida Season Preview & Predictions
- Florida State Season Preview & Predictions
- Georgia Season Preview & Predictions
- Illinois Season Preview & Predictions
- Indiana Season Preview & Predictions
- Iowa Season Preview & Predictions
- Iowa State Season Preview & Predictions
- Kansas Season Preview & Predictions
- Kansas State Season Preview & Predictions
- Kentucky Season Preview & Predictions
- Louisville Season Preview & Predictions
- LSU Season Preview & Predictions
- Maryland Season Preview & Predictions
- Miami Season Preview & Predictions
- Michigan Season Preview & Predictions
- Michigan State Season Preview & Predictions
- Minnesota Season Preview & Predictions
- Mississippi State Season Preview & Predictions
- Missouri Season Preview & Predictions
- Nebraska Season Preview & Predictions
- North Carolina Season Preview & Predictions
- North Carolina State Season Preview & Predictions
- Notre Dame Season Preview & Predictions
- Ohio State Season Preview & Predictions
- Oklahoma Season Preview & Predictions
- Oklahoma State Season Preview & Predictions
- Ole Miss Season Preview & Predictions
- Oregon Season Preview & Predictions
- Oregon State Season Preview & Predictions
- Penn State Season Preview & Predictions
- Rutgers Season Preview & Predictions
- South Carolina Season Preview & Predictions
- TCU Season Preview & Predictions
- Tennessee Season Preview & Predictions
- Texas Season Preview & Predictions
- Texas A&M Season Preview & Predictions
- Texas Tech Season Preview & Predictions
- UCLA Season Preview & Predictions
- USC Season Preview & Predictions
- Utah Season Preview & Predictions
- Vanderbilt Season Preview & Predictions
- Virginia Tech Season Preview & Predictions
- Washington Season Preview & Predictions
- Washington State Season Preview & Predictions
- West Virginia Season Preview & Predictions
- Wisconsin Season Preview & Predictions
