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Experience counts.
Welcome to our official countdown until football season! There’s only a few weeks left until the Colorado Buffaloes kick off the 2024 campaign against the North Dakota State Bison at Folsom Field on August 29th, so we at Ralphie Report are going to celebrate the only way we know how: with some power rankings! Over the next 20 days, we’ll rank the 20 most important players for the Colorado Buffaloes ahead of the 2024 season.
When we at Ralphie Report starting to put together this list, there was a few things that we had to balance. “Important” is a vague word that brings a lot of baggage with it. If a position needs talent the most, any player at that spot makes it important, right? However, talent anywhere wins football games, and ELITE talent is more important than anything, right? Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are responsible for at least half of the wins that the Buffs have this year. So when you look at this countdown, it is not meant to rank the overall talent of these players, but rather to balance their skill with what the team needs. That’s why Will Sheppard only comes in at #12.
To be clear, Sheppard is a monster. At Vanderbilt, where a carousel of quarterbacks were handed an impossible schedule and a new coordinator, Will did not have a lot to work with but he made chicken salad out of lemons. He arrives in Colorado with one to play one, so it’s his last shot. He is already a 2,000 yard college football receiver who averaged 8.5 TDs the last two years. AT VANDERBILT. He is your prototypical #1 receiver. At 6’3 and 200 pounds, he has the size to win contested balls. His route-running lets him get open early and his athleticism lets him stay open late in the route. In short, he’s a quarterback’s best friends. This year, Shedeur has lots of friends.
That’s why Will is only #12 on this list. The wide receiver room, for my money, is top 10 in the country and the unquestioned best room in the Big 12. you will see many other wide receivers on this list. Sheppard gets a chance to show out for scouts and finally play with a top-notch quarterback. He is also in a “rich-get-richer” situation. Watch him ball out this fall.
by Jack Barsch
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