Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter have special bond leading CU Buffs offense

Shedeur Sanders works hard to ensure he has good relationships with all of his receivers.

The relationship he has with Travis Hunter is special, though, and it was on full display in Colorado’s 31-26 season-opening victory over North Dakota State on Thursday at Folsom Field.

“They’ve got their own little thing going,” CU head coach Deion Sanders said. “I don’t blame them, because it works. They’ve got their own thing going.”

Their game went as expected against the Bisons. Sanders completed seven passes to Hunter for 132 yards, including three touchdowns.

“It’s just a certain chemistry between them, Shedeur is going to place the ball,” Coach Prime said. “If that guy is right next to him, he’s going to place the ball. First of all, there’s no 50-50 with Travis. If the ball is close, it’s his ball. So he’s that type of athlete.”

Shedeur and Hunter are both considered top picks in the 2025 NFL Draft and it would be hard to find a better quarterback-receiver duo in the country this year.

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw three touchdown passes to Travis Hunter during the Buffaloes’ season opener Thursday at Folsom Field. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)

Of course, the connection between Shedeur and Jimmy Horn Jr. is pretty good, too. Horn caught seven passes for 198 yards and a touchdown against NDSU. LaJohntay Wester is a newcomer who barely started Thursday, but he still had five receptions for 58 yards and has better days ahead of him.

Will Sheppard is another star who is starting to get to know Shedeur and he too is likely to have bigger games than the modest two receptions for 23 yards he had in the opener.

The connection between Shedeur and Hunter goes back a long way, though. This is their third year together, as they were also teammates during Hunter’s freshman season at Jackson State in 2022.

Shedeur said the connection goes back to when Hunter tried out for JSU. The No. 1 recruit in the country in the 2022 class, Hunter snubbed Florida State and numerous other Power 5 offers to play for Coach Prime and the Tigers. It was an unprecedented move for a five-star to choose to play for an FCS school, and an HBCU in particular.

“There’s definitely a connection, because he made the decision to defy the odds, take a different path and come to Jackson State at that time,” Shedeur said. “It’s something I look back on and really respect him for, because a player of his caliber didn’t have to do that, you know, but he did it, and that’s powerful.”

Limited to eight games in 2022 due to injury, Hunter caught just 18 passes for 188 yards and four touchdowns that season. But in their final game at JSU, Shedeur and Hunter gave a glimpse of what was to come.

Hunter caught four passes for 47 yards and two touchdowns in the 2022 Celebration Bowl. Both touchdowns came in the fourth quarter, including a 19-yarder on the final play of regulation to force overtime. Shedeur threw a ball that only Hunter could have caught for that touchdown.

This brilliant duo took that connection to another level at CU. Hunter caught 57 passes for 721 yards and five touchdowns last season, despite missing three games.

“Years and years and years of connections, years of talking about different things,” Shedeur said of how they developed chemistry.

They also took advantage of the fact that Hunter was also a great cornerback.

“He plays defensive back, so he understands body position, he understands a lot of things that our receivers don’t understand,” Shedeur said. “So it’s like an advantage to have him out there while he’s been practicing all week on defense sometimes. Then he goes out there and he handles his business and it’s just, we’re mentally focused.”

“That’s the overall goal I try to achieve with all the receivers, really, because everybody knows that every game, somebody’s going to shine.”

Horn shined Thursday. Wester and Sheppard will have their big games, and others are capable of breaking out. But when No. 12 is on the field, Shedeur knows he can always look that way and if he throws it, there’s a good chance he’ll catch it.