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USA Today
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Eric Bieniemy, Chris Hudson named to 2026 College Football Hall of Fame ballot
Eric Bieniemy, Chris Hudson named to 2026 College Football Hall of Fame ballot Many Colorado football fans hope Deion Sanders is ushering in a new golden age of Colorado football. Still, before the current era under Coach Prime began, there were the Colorado teams of the early 1990s. On Monday, the golden era of CU football was honored with Eric Bieniemy and Chris Hudson being named to the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame ballot. Bieniemy, Colorado's all-time leading rusher, was the driving force behind the Buffaloes' 1990 national championship. That season, he earned a unanimous first-team All-American and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Bieniemy still owns eight school records and was a two-time All-Big Eight selection. Chris Hudson, a cornerstone piece of Colorado's defense in the early 1990s, was a consensus first-team All-American in 1994 and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back. Hudson finished his college career with 141 tackles, 15 interceptions (two returned for touchdowns) and 20 pass breakups. Their nominations continue a proud tradition for Colorado, which has seen recent inductees such as Deon Figures (2025), Rashaan Salaam (2022) and Michael Westbrook (2020). The 2026 Hall of Fame class will be officially inducted during the 68th NFF Annual Awards Dinner in December. Follow Charlie Strella on X, Threads and Instagram. Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
28-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Where did ESPN rank Brent Venables as a player?
Where did ESPN rank Brent Venables as a player? The time of year when college football fans are hankering for college football but have little recruiting or transfer-portal news to keep up with always produces some engaging offseason content. Way off-season. Over at ESPN, college football analyst Adam Rittenberg put together a tier list of every FBS coach ranked by how good that coach was in college. More specifically, he put coaches into tiers that appear largely unranked, then capped the list with a top 30. So, where does Oklahoma's Brent Venables fit in? Not as high as Tennessee's Josh Heupel, but not in a bad landing spot. The Sooners coach slotted into the "Pre-portal transfers" tier. That tier ranks sixth of eight, though, again, differentiating between the middle tiers is a matter of perspective. Venables fit there because he began his career at Garden City Community College, becoming a JUCO All-American in 1990. From there, he transferred in-state to play for his mentor, Bill Snyder, at Kansas State. In Manhattan, Venables earned All-Big Eight honorable mention status his senior year after logging 114 tackles. No other SEC coach was among the nine remaining in that tier. The top-30 rankings yielded five Southeastern Conference head coaches. At the top, of course, former Sooners Heisman Trophy winner Josh Heupel. He immediately made his presence known in 1999 with 3,850 passing yards and 33 touchdowns. Heupel then led the Sooners to a national title in 2000, recording 3,606 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. He was named AP Player of the Year, won the Walter Camp Award and consensus All-America honors, and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. - Rittenberg, ESPN Oklahoma and Tennessee meet on the field with Heupel and Venables roaming the sidelines in Knoxville on November 1 this fall. Last year, Heupel's Volunteers won the matchup in Norman, 25-15. For those with a curious bit of state pride, four coaches with ties to the Sooner State ranked in the top 30. Purdue's Barry Odom (Ada) ranked 24th, Arkansas' Sam Pittman (Grove) ranked 21st, and Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy (Midwest City) ranked fifth. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Deion Sanders turns heads by welcoming back castaway transfer at Colorado
Colorado has brought back a familiar face. Wide receiver Jack Hestera has returned to be with Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes after stops at Charlotte and Utah State. The one-time castaway after Coach Prime got to Boulder was a walk-on at CU under Karl Dorrell from 2021–22. Hestera's journey through the transfer portal is a story of perseverance. Advertisement The Boulder native has deep ties to the Buffaloes. His father Dan was a national champion in 1990, and his uncle Dave was an All-Big Eight tight end. Hestera brings more than just experience; he's a legacy recruit. After redshirting and earning limited time under Dorrell, Hestera found success at Charlotte with 349 receiving yards and three touchdowns, then upped his game with Utah State, posting 340 yards and four scores on just 24 catches. Now back with the Buffs as portal addition, Hestera joins a retooled receiving corps that lost stars like Travis Hunter, Jimmy Horn Jr., LaJohntay Wester, and Will Sheppard to the NFL. Though not a headliner, his veteran presence and familiarity with Colorado's environment give him a chance to carve out a key role in a room looking for leadership and production. Related: Shedeur Sanders' shows true colors at Browns minicamp At 6-foot, 185 pounds, Hestera may not have elite measurables, but his journey proves he belongs. As young talents like Omarion Miller and Joseph Williams fight for playing time, Hestera's 31 games of college experience could be the steadying influence needed. Related: Shedeur Sanders retirement being 'forced' by Deion, says Denver reporter For Colorado, this portal reunion could pay off in a big way this fall. Hestera enters his final year of eligibility.
New York Times
24-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Deion Sanders does things his way at Colorado — will recent controversy change dynamic?
Chad Brown's first instinct was to check the date. No, it wasn't April Fool's Day. 'I had no idea whatsoever,' Brown said. 'I hadn't heard of anyone who heard it was happening. Everybody from my era was just as caught off guard as I was.' Five days before Deion Sanders' third spring game as Colorado's head coach, the school announced it would be retiring Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter's No. 12 jersey and quarterback Shedeur Sanders' No. 2. Advertisement Hunter's and Sanders' two-year careers in Boulder came to an end on Dec. 28, less than four months ago. And last Saturday, their names and numbers were memorialized in Folsom Field during the spring scrimmage. Brown is a member of Colorado's 1990 national title team under Bill McCartney and became a two-time All-Big Eight linebacker and a second-round pick who played more than a decade in the NFL. He said he's not the only one taken aback by the decision. 'Not a lot of numbers have been retired over the years,' Brown said. 'For this to be the exact opposite of our experience is one of the reasons why it was so different to see this.' Just four other Colorado players have had their numbers retired. The last had come in 2017 when Rashaan Salaam, who won the 1994 Heisman Trophy, was honored a year after his death. Said another member of Colorado's 1990 national title team, granted anonymity to speak candidly on the issue: 'We're celebrating mediocrity. Where are the wins? Where are the top-10 finishes? Go Buffs for life, but you have to just hold your nose and deal with it.' Colorado handed Deion Sanders the keys to the kingdom when it hired him in December 2022, set him on the throne and handed him a crown. Athletic director Rick George was all in on the Coach Prime Experience coming to Boulder — and it's George who led the charge to retire Shedeur's and Hunter's jerseys, according to a person briefed on the decision. George has defended CU retiring the jerseys in a statement. Sanders runs the program his way, with a level of control that made the university so attractive to him. Initially, there was a heavy reliance on transfers that required lowering the university's admissions standards and received plenty of outside criticism. He's filled his staff with his friends from when he was still coaching youth football and leaned into bringing in Pro Football Hall of Famers with major resumes as players and little to no experience coaching. Advertisement It's worked. He has a new $10 million a year contract to show for it after a 9-4 season in 2024. Most of the criticism about the jersey retirements has come from people who claimed the black and gold long before Sanders joined the Buffs. Colorado fans and the legions of Deion Sanders fans have forged an uneasy alliance since Sanders' arrival from Jackson State. Sanders' star turn as a player, along with his foray into college coaching and YouTube stardom, built a resurgent fan base of all ages. Will this controversy be the first to stick to Sanders and affect his tenure at Colorado? The reality in college football is much is tolerated when a program is winning. And right now, Sanders is a winning coach who has revitalized the program. The saga has been hotly debated in public and in private, with former player and assistant coach Darrin Chiaverini and other Buffs expressing their displeasure on social media. 'The excitement and the notoriety that Shedeur and Travis have brought to the University of Colorado is unquestioned, but retiring these numbers before recognizing previous great players in CU history needs to be addressed,' Chiaverini wrote, adding a long list of former Buffs he would like to see honored. Darian Hagan, a former quarterback widely considered one of the best Buffaloes in program history and former longtime staffer, reposted Chiaverini's note. Tyler Polumbus, a two-year starter who was on the roster from 2003-07 and later won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, posted a stream to his X account, calling it a mistake. 'This is the first decision that Deion Sanders has made that has really enraged the alumni, including myself,' Polumbus said, later clarifying he was mostly referring to bestowing the honor upon Shedeur Sanders. Rick Neuheisel, who was the Buffaloes' offensive coordinator in 1994 and head coach from 1995-98, said that the honor came too soon and at the cost of passing up former players. But with Sanders' approval rating soaring, some past players don't want to speak out. Advertisement '(Deion) has built a castle, so to speak, and it's very hard to get through the moat,' said Neuheisel, an analyst for CBS and XM radio host. Five former players from the McCartney era (1982-1994) declined to speak with The Athletic about the jersey retirement. 'If you b— and complain, you look jealous and envious, and you're just a hater,' said the anonymous member of the 1990 team. A day after the announcement, Sanders addressed what he called 'the elephant in the room.' 'We're talking about Shedeur. We ain't talking about nobody else. If his last name wasn't Sanders, we wouldn't have this discussion. Only reason we're having this discussion is his last name is Sanders. That's it,' Deion said. Brown said that Sanders' insistence on the criticism coming because of who he is speaks to his disconnect with the program's proud past. 'The idea we wouldn't be having this conversation or we're only having it because it's Deion's son, well it would also be fair to say he wouldn't be getting this consideration if he wasn't Deion's son. It goes both ways,' Brown said. 'If we're going to ignore the legacy of the greatest era ever of Colorado football and act like it was invented three years ago, it's dismissing, disrespecting and in some ways trying to erase the greatness of past players.' Sanders has welcomed former quarterback Kordell Stewart and former receiver Michael Westbrook as frequent guests at games and practices. In 2023, he campaigned to have Westbrook's Paul Warfield Trophy, honoring the best wide receiver in college football, displayed in the team facility. Former Colorado quarterback turned Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt has forged a relationship with the new staff of outsiders as well. But on Fox Sports 1, he called the decision 'not a good look.' 'With Shedeur, it's way too easy to say, 'Would this happen if he had a different name on his back?' And that becomes a disservice to Shedeur.' Advertisement Klatt said he reached out to George to voice his disapproval. 'Recognizing the accomplishments of a Heisman Trophy winner and record-setting quarterback who ushered in this new era of CU football now does not detract from accomplishments of the past,' George said in his statement. 'Rather, it adds to the rich legacy of CU football that has been passed down over the years by everyone who has worn a CU uniform.' Brown said he hasn't spoken to George about the jersey retirement, but they have a relationship dating to 1988, when George was working in the program's recruiting and football operations. 'The leapfrogging has already been done,' Brown said. 'Does Rick George go back and start this process? Who do you start it with? What guys of our eras? Who picks this? Who chooses this? Who chose this one? 'It seems like it would be a committee kind of thing of folks who understand the legacy and the history of CU football, and maybe some newer folks. … But as far as I know, nothing like that was done.' There's no standard for how many or when schools retire jerseys across the sport. Most schools have retired only a handful. Some do it immediately. Others wait decades. Some have clear baseline criteria like being named an All-American or winning a major award or championship. Some do not. At USC, in particular, it's simple: Heisman Trophy winners have jerseys retired immediately. There are no other guidelines. Other schools will make it a focus under a coach or athletic director and honor a cluster of players from the past they deem worthy. Neuheisel said from his conversations with past players, the alumni wanted to know why other past greats weren't granted the same honor if the new standard for retiring jerseys is less exclusive. 'You've got all these former Buffaloes that really laid it out there for the Buffs and were decorated All-Americans like Alfred Williams or Matt Russell or Chris Hudson. I'm thinking like, golly, you should've retired all these guys, not just these two who've been there for two seasons,' Neuheisel said. ' I've always said let's just retire their jerseys, not their numbers.' After the spring game and ceremony on Saturday, Colorado announced a planned statue of McCartney, who died in January, that had been in the works for more than a year. 'I'm sad because I wanted him to see that,' Sanders said of McCartney. 'He can't see that. Same thing with Rashaan Salaam. How long did we wait? I say we because I'm a part of CU now. How long did we wait?' Sanders said. 'So we gotta die to get recognized?' Advertisement The program's second Heisman Trophy winner, Hunter, won two other major awards and was a unanimous All-American. The decision to honor him has garnered a fraction of the criticism of Shedeur Sanders, who won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and went 13-12 as a starting quarterback. Sanders wasn't named to any All-America teams but won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and set the single-season school record for touchdown passes. Both players are expected to be first-round picks in the NFL Draft on Thursday. The criticism, Brown says, isn't about denigrating the recent players. Brown pointed to Deon Figures, who won the Thorpe Award while also wearing No. 2 and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He nabbed a game-sealing interception to beat Notre Dame and bring Colorado its national title. Shedeur Sanders' name in Folsom Field sits next to Joe Romig, a two-time All-American who went on to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Hunter's name is two spots to the left of Byron 'Whizzer' White, who was an All-American in 1937 and the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. He later served on the Supreme Court for 31 years after being appointed by John F. Kennedy. 'I'm not a hater. I've bled on the field. I've contributed off the field. I've coughed up money. It's not me pushing back on the program or Coach Prime or Travis or Shedeur,' Brown said. 'It's fighting for recognition of players from my era who clearly deserve to be included in this conversation.' — The Athletic's Christopher Kamrani contributed reporting.
New York Times
19-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Nebraska football's roster squeeze is creating tough decisions for players and coaches
LINCOLN, Neb. — The first time Conor Connealy tore the ACL in his right knee, it nearly robbed him of the opportunity to play college football. The second time, oddly, his injury might extend his career at Nebraska and buy him time to earn a spot on a roster cut dramatically in size. Parts of his story are not unique to the Huskers. Players and coaches nationally face difficult choices in 2025 due to the fallout from the NCAA v. House settlement. Advertisement Connealy didn't expect to be part of a sweeping change in college sports. It just swallowed him up, like so much else that has long existed without fanfare. Nebraska football posters hung from the red- and white-painted walls in Connealy's childhood bedroom. A helmet worn at Nebraska by his father, two-time All-Big Eight defensive lineman Terry Connealy, sat on Conor's nightstand. 'I was raised by Blackshirts,' he said. 'I felt like I was raised in the program, with their culture and their different values. It's always been a part of me. And something bigger than me.' In his first memory of Nebraska football, Conor sat on his dad's shoulders at age 6 or 7 as they walked into Memorial Stadium. 'Seeing the field, seeing the scoreboard,' he said, 'I just remember being able to look down at all the fans and know how much everybody loved Nebraska.' Before the school hired Matt Rhule as its coach in December 2022, Connealy had begun to accept that his football career might be over. Two months earlier, as a two-way lineman at Mount Michael High in Elkhorn, Neb., he suffered that first knee injury early in his senior season. Connealy initially had heard from Nebraska in a text from Kenny Wilhite, the director of high school relations, on Thanksgiving Day 2021. But contact with the Nebraska staff waned after Connealy got hurt. Amid the upheaval in Lincoln, the Huskers transitioned from Scott Frost to interim coach Mickey Joseph in the fall of 2022. Staffers anticipated widespread change at the end of the season. And it came. As Connealy listened to Rhule's introductory news conference, he heard that the former Carolina Panthers coach wanted to reinforce the qualities of a developmental program at Nebraska. Connealy heard that Rhule wanted to build players into contributors by their third, fourth and fifth seasons. Advertisement Rhule's words reignited a fire, reminding Connealy of stories he had heard from his dad. Terry Connealy played eight-man high school football in Hyannis, Neb., and captained the defense for a national championship team with the Huskers as a fifth-year senior in 1994. Conor Connealy, still wanting to play, made plans to attend Nebraska as a student only. In the spring of Connealy's senior year at Mount Michael, Nebraska assistant Ed Foley reached out to ask for film that showed his mobility before he got hurt. He gathered a few clips. The Huskers extended a walk-on offer. He accepted on the spot. 'I was excited to help,' Connealy said. 'I was excited to play scout team. I was excited to learn from older guys.' Connealy rehabbed from the high school injury. He settled at defensive line like his dad. He gained 20 pounds in each of his first two seasons without playing in a game, packing 265 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame. He felt like a contributor to the family business. Almost immediately after Nebraska closed the regular season last year on Black Friday, Connealy met with then-defensive line coach Terrance Knighton. If the roster cuts to come in 2025 were in place now, Knighton told him, Connealy wouldn't have a spot on the 105-man roster. He would not be allowed to stay on the team. Rhule and his staff had those conversations with many players. 'Some guys left as walk-ons here and got scholarships somewhere else,' Rhule said, 'which is great. But some guys have said, 'Coach, I'm staying here until you kick me off. I'm a Husker.'' Roster limits will be rolled into the House settlement, a resolution to the $2.8 billion lawsuit that will bring revenue sharing to college sports, pending approval in April. With a 150-player roster that ranked as one of the largest in college football last season, Nebraska — and every other program — must get to 105 by the start of play in 2025. Advertisement Thirty Huskers entered the transfer portal in December and January. But after Nebraska signed 20 recruits and 16 transfers, it still must trim more than 25 from its roster. Connealy isn't leaving on his own. 'My gut instinct,' he said, 'was, 'OK, let's prove them wrong. I want to be a Cornhusker.' I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't give it my best shot.' He made plans to double down on his training and get in the best shape of his life. Connealy listened to his dad, who told him to keep working when no one was watching. Then, on Dec. 4, in a pass-rush drill as Nebraska began bowl game prep work, Connealy felt his right knee buckle. Trainers checked him out. He finished the workout, even running a few sprints. It felt OK, he said. The next day, an MRI showed a tear to the same ACL he had injured more than two years prior. He attended the Pinstripe Bowl and watched in sweats as Nebraska won its first postseason game since 2015. Connealy underwent surgery on Jan. 17. The prognosis for a return from the second ACL injury is 12 to 15 months. Connealy's end goal has not changed. He wants to play for Nebraska. 'I'm viewing this as a blessing and an opportunity to grow,' he said. Rhule said this month that he expects Nebraska could replace an injured player on the 105 in August. Presumably, Connealy and others who are out for the season could remain connected to the Huskers while working to return from injury, although the extent of their permitted involvement in team activities is unknown. Clarity from the NCAA on roster management could come after the April ruling on the House settlement. 'Hurting my knee may save me a spot at the table,' Connealy said, 'just because there's so much uncertainty as to what the rules are. I don't think anyone knows. It leaves us in a tough spot.' Connealy told Rhule in December that he's 'fully committed' to making it back and earning a spot. The coach expected nothing less from him. 'That's hard for me,' Rhule said of the roster crunch. 'We'll compete it out all the way to the end and see how the numbers play out.' He said the Huskers might take 115 players into preseason practice at the end of July. Advertisement By Aug. 28, when Nebraska opens against Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Rhule plans to identify a top 57 that resembles an active NFL roster. Then, among the remaining 48 spots, all but 10 would fit like a second NFL-style unit. The last 10? Culture fits. A former walk-on linebacker at Penn State, Rhule wants players, regardless of their position, who are flexible at practice and bring too much value to cut. He's looking for players who are 'raising the level of everything around us.' Connealy has heard the message. 'As a culture guy, I know what Nebraska football is supposed to be like,' he said. 'Right now, my plan is to bust my ass and get my knee healed up better than it was before. It gives me a great chance to change my body and get into great shape, get a lot stronger and just watch a lot of film.' Before the latest setback, Connealy said he felt pointed in the right direction to play and help Nebraska win games. 'I see no reason why that won't continue,' he said. If ever the day comes when he's left off the 105 at Nebraska while healthy, Connealy said he doesn't know if he would enter the portal or simply choose to stay in Lincoln and finish school. 'That's a tough question,' he said. 'It would depend on a lot of factors. I'm not too interested in anywhere else. I do love it here. It's my home. But I also love playing football.' (Top photo of Conor Connealy courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)
