![\"Aug.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DCC-L-CUMediaDay523.jpg\")
Aug. 8: CU head football coach, Deion Sanders, during CU football Media Day on Aug. 8, 2025.(Cliff Grassmick\/Staff Photographer)\nFeeling good<\/p>\n
Byron Leftwich hasn\u2019t officially been announced as a member of the Colorado football coaching staff, but he\u2019s already making an impact.<\/p>\n
The former NFL quarterback has been working with the Buffaloes\u2019 quarterbacks this month as they prepare for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s phenomenal,\u201d head coach Deion Sanders said. \u201cI\u2019m not even equipped with words to describe what he\u2019s brought to the table: his experience, his knowledge, his day to day, just communication and on the field, communication with the quarterbacks has been superb.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s much more than expected, much greater than we would ever have thought that he was. He\u2019s unbelievable, man. I can see why the Bucs won the championship when he was there. He\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leftwich, 45, played 10 seasons in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was a backup for Pittsburgh when it won Super Bowl XLIII.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Leftwich began his coaching career as an intern with the Arizona Cardinals. He spent three seasons in Arizona before becoming the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay in 2019. He was the Bucs\u2019 offensive coordinator for four years, helping them win Super Bowl LV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith coach Leftwich coming in, he most definitely helped us just all together as a group, as a unit, with practicing better, I feel like, every day,\u201d CU senior Kaidon Salter said. \u201cHe\u2019s just now coming in, and it feels like he\u2019s been here the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freshman JuJu Lewis echoed Salter, while adding, \u201cIt\u2019s definitely cool having coach Leftwich there, just knowing that he has the past NFL experience as a quarterback, and being a Black quarterback at that. Just knowing he can give us his point of views from his experience and things like that. It\u2019s hard not to try to soak up as much as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aug. 8: CU head football coach, Deion Sanders, during CU football Media Day on Aug. 8, 2025.(Cliff Grassmick\/Staff Photographer)
\nFeeling good<\/p>\n
It was less than two weeks ago, on July 28, that Sanders announced he had battled bladder cancer this summer, but is now cancer free. He is still recovering, though, and said Friday he\u2019s been feeling good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m good, thank you,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m healthy, I\u2019m vibrant, I\u2019m my old self. We walk every day at the practice around campus, at least a mile. I\u2019m loving life right now. I\u2019m trying my best to live it to the fullest, considering what transpired.\u201d<\/p>\n
New experience<\/p>\n
On Friday night, Sanders\u2019 son and former CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders made his NFL preseason debut, starting for the Cleveland Browns against the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be strange for both of us,\u201d said Coach Prime, who has had Shedeur as his quarterback all through his coaching career.<\/p>\n
Coach Prime and Shedeur had a tradition of walking up and down the field and talking before each game, but Shedeur didn\u2019t get that on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s different for him, but he\u2019s so prepared right now,\u201d Coach Prime said. \u201cA lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game. He\u2019s approaching it like a game, and that\u2019s how he\u2019s always approached everything. \u2026 He\u2019s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shedeur completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdown passes in leading the Browns to a 30-10 victory. Panthers rookie receiver Jimmy Horn Jr., who played the last two seasons at CU, caught four passes for 15 yards.<\/p>\n
Coach Prime added that the entire team \u201cerupted\u201d when former CU receiver LaJohntay Wester had an 87-yard punt return for touchdown for Baltimore on Thursday night. And, he\u2019s eager to watch other former Buffs, including his older son, Shilo (with the Buccaneers) make their debuts this weekend.<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
Bill Collins, the first Black football captain in CU history, died on July 31 in Dallas after a long battle with cancer. He was 76 years old. Sanders said Friday he hopes CU will do something this season to honor Collins. \u2026 Two years ago, Coach Prime\u2019s theme for the Buffs was \u201chope.\u201d Last year it was \u201cexpectation.\u201d This year\u2019s theme isn\u2019t determined yet. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot going on,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019ll get that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: August 8, 2025 at 5:54 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Byron Leftwich hasn\u2019t officially been announced as a member of the Colorado football coaching staff, but he\u2019s already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[18881,18882,18883,1607,2662,3832,399,4142,2558,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-69657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-boulder","tag-boulder-county","tag-buffzone","tag-college-football","tag-college-sports","tag-colorado","tag-football","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}