One of the many former Colorado Buffaloes staffers that Deion Sanders let go during the transition from the 2022 season to 2023’s “Prime Time” debut in Boulder helped keep Ryan Staub at CU.
Shedeur Sanders’ arrival alongside his father meant Staub lost an opportunity to start that had been available to him when he committed to the program under Karl Dorrell in January 2022, some nine months before the ex-head coach’s firing.
Mike Sanford, the first-year offensive coordinator who was not retained by Coach Prime and replaced by Sean Lewis and Pat Shurmur, reportedly counseled Staub the past two years. Sanford has not worked for any organization during that time and was hired at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, for the 2025 season.
“Sanford, now the coach at Valor Christian High in Colorado, has an admitted bias: He’s the coach who recruited Staub out of Southern California and helped persuade him to commit to Colorado about 10 months before Sanders arrived in Boulder. Sanford also counseled Staub after Sanders brought his son Shedeur with him to quarterback the Buffaloes in 2023 and 2024,” USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer wrote.
Staub has burst onto the national scene at Colorado in his third year after coming in against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens this past Saturday as the third quarterback on the depth chart and seemingly earning the start for their Week 3 matchup with the Houston Cougars.
Coach Prime has been hesitant to name Staub the starter, but most expect him to get the nod after Deion’s “Martin Luther Staub” speech following the 31-7 win over Delaware.
While Sanford no longer does unpaid work for Coach Prime’s staff, he did the most important work of his career while Shedeur was stealing headlines and breaking program records:
Helping CU retain their potential starting signal-caller for a critical 2025 season, Ryan Staub.