Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is the Colorado Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame’s Player of the Week for his play last Saturday at Texas Tech, where the Buffs maintained their second place standing in the Big 12 with a 41-27 win in Lubbock.
Sanders completed 30 of 43 passes for 291 yards, three touchdowns passing with no interceptions, and one rushing touchdown for four total scores as Colorado improved to 5-1 in the Big XII with a 7-2 overall record.
In becoming the 13th player to be recognized three or more times as the Colorado Chapter’s Player of the Week, Sanders is one of 32 Buffs to receive the honor. CU has won POW recognition 48 times since the start of the program in 2003.
Buff teammate Travis Hunter has won the Colorado Chapter POW honors three times this season to become CU’s 32nd player to capture the National Football Foundation recognition.
Other nominees from last weekend’s games were Air Force’s Matthew Dapore, CSU Pueblo’s Reggie Retzlaff, Fort Lewis’ Stone Walker, and Western Colorado’s Kendall Lightfoot.
The POW program for the Colorado Chapter of the NFF & CHOF was started in 2003. Previous winners this season of the NFF CC POW honors were:
- CSU Pueblo quarterback Devin Larsen (games played August 29 & 31);
- CSU Pueblo wide receiver Reggie Retzlaff (September 5 & 7);
- CU wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter (September 14, September 21, October 29);
- Mines wide receiver Flynn Schiele (September 30);
- Colorado Mesa linebacker Colin Stuhr (October 8);
- CSU quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi (October 15)
- Mines quarterback Evan Foster (October 22);
- CSU Pueblo quarterback Roman Fuller (November 4).
Hunter and Robert Felberg of Colorado Mesa are the only two “slash” players to win the honor. Felberg was a quarterback/wide receiver recipient for the Mavericks in a 2010 game against Western Colorado. Hunter is the first to play on both offense and defense.
Following the nominees’ sketches is information on the NFFCC POWs by school, division, and position.
Air Force (W, 36-28 vs. Fresno State)
Matthew Dapore, Air Force, 6-0, 190, senior placekicker from Springboro, Ohio (Springboro) – Dapore had a career-high 3-for-3 field goal day (35, 37, 36) and added three extra points in the Falcons’ first conference win this season. In posting a season-high 12 points scored, Dapore became the all-time leading scorer in Air Force history with 257 points, passing legendary players Dee Dowis and Beau Morgan, who each finished in the top 10 of Heisman Trophy voting. His second field goal marked the first points for the Air Force in the third quarter this season. His final field goal from 36 yards set the scoring record and clinched the Air Force game, making it a two-score game with under two minutes remaining.
Colorado (W, 41-27 at Texas Tech)
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado, 6-2, 215 senior quarterback from Dallas, Texas (Trinity Christian/Jackson State) – Sanders completed 30 of 43 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns passing with no interceptions and one rushing touchdown for four total scores. He is now 250-of-343 for 2,882 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions with 29 total touchdowns. He leads CU with five rushing touchdowns on the season. He surpassed the 13,000-yard and 120-passing touchdown plateaus in his career and is now 1,164-of-1,674 for 13,101 yards with 121 TDs and 23 interceptions. He tied the CU record with 20 straight games with a passing touchdown, matching Sefo Liufau’s record, which is both overall and to start a CU career. He has passed for a touchdown in 45 straight games in his career.
Colorado State Pueblo (W, 28-13 vs. #14 Mines)
Reggie Retzlaff, CSU PUeblo, 6-3, 212 senior wide receiver from Corona, Calif. (Centennial High/Riverside City College) – In the No. 6/7 Pack’s 28-13 home win Saturday over No. 14 Mines, Retzlaff was targeted 13 times in the passing game and finished with seven receptions for a game-high 139 yards and caught two second-half touchdown passes, including a 61-yard touchdown reception just 42 seconds into the fourth quarter to help push the Pack’s lead to 28-13. Retzlaff’s score came after Mines had scored their first touchdown of the game with 1:38 left in the third quarter to pull the Orediggers within eight at 21-13. Retzlaff’s first touchdown came on a 26-yard pass with 4:36 left in the third quarter to help the Pack extend its lead to 21-6. Retzlaff pushed his career total to 24 with his two touchdown receptions, tied with Paul Browning for most in school history. Retzlaff tied the school career record for touchdown receptions and tied the school’s single-season mark for receptions with 59 and became just the second receiver in school history to record 1,000 or more receiving yards in a season. Retzlaff has caught 59 passes for 1,110 yards and an RMAC-leading 12 touchdown receptions on the season. He is tied for the school’s single-season record for receptions, is second in single-season yards, and tied for the single-season record for touchdown receptions. It was his second straight and sixth 100-plus yard receiving game and the sixth time he has caught at least seven passes in a game. Retzlaff’s performance helped the Pack secure its first win over Mines since the 2018 NCAA Playoffs and snap a five-game losing skid to the Orediggers, along with assisting the Pack secure at least a share of the RMAC title for the first time since 2018.
Fort Lewis (W, 44-22 vs. New Mexico Highlands)
Stone Walker, Fort Lewis, 6-3, 175 redshirt freshman from Houston, Texas (Northland Christian School) – Stone completed 16 of 21 (76.2%) for 270 yards and two touchdowns, including a pair of 19-yard and 48-yard passing touchdowns to Zachary Gaumont and Jamille Humphrey, respectively. On the ground, Walker rushed for 51 net yards on nine carries, including a 33-yard scamper for the Skyhawks’ first touchdown. Walker accounted for 321 of Fort Lewis’ 499 yards (64.3%) of total offense. Walker’s career day gave the Skyhawks back-to-back wins in RMAC play for the first time since 2017, scoring the most points since Sep. 29, 2018, and producing the most yards of total offense (499) since Aug. 31, 2018. Walker set career highs in passing yards (270), completion percentage (76.2%), yards of total offense (321), and matched his career high of three touchdowns in a contest. In addition, he has accounted for two or more touchdowns in each of his last two outings. FLC went from a 40-game losing streak, the longest active across all of NCAA football at the time, to winning three games in a single season.
Western Colorado (W, 21-17 vs. Chadron State)
Kendall Lightfoot, Western State – 6-1, 255 graduate student linebacker from Las Vegas, Nev. (Faith Lutheran) – With nine tackles (4 solo, 5 assisted) with a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry, Lightfoot’s pass breakup was one of the most critical plays in the game. The PBU came on a Chadron State 4th and six play from the Mountaineer 9-yard line with 1:15 left in the game, clinging to a 4-point lead. He flushed the Eagle quarterback out of the pocket and knocked down the pass attempt to stop the threat on the doorstep.
