awarded a scholarship by Sanders<\/a> ahead of CU\u2019s spring game in April, Finneseth has evolved from an overlooked recruit out of Durango into a dependable leader who will be counted on within the Buffs\u2019 new-look secondary in 2025.<\/p>\nThat journey became emotional for Finneseth last winter. One of the \u2018original Buffs\u2019 who were on the roster prior to Sanders\u2019 arrival \u2014 a fraternity that was whittled to six when running back Charlie Offerdahl retired prior to the preseason due to repeated concussions \u2014 Finneseth was with the program for the bottoming out at the end of the Karl Dorrell era. (Technically there are again seven \u2018OBs\u2019 with the return of receiver Jack Hestera, but he played at two different stops the past two seasons.)<\/p>\n
Finneseth remained a Buff through the extensive Prime roster overhaul, and he appeared in all 13 games last year in a return-to-glory campaign that culminated in an Alamo Bowl berth. Once the dust settled, Finneseth became reflective about his journey, and how it led to being able to play with talents like Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and former CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the season was done last year, I just had to sit in my room and cry. Because I had to reflect on everything I had been through the last few years, and how rewarding it was to go through last season,\u201d Finneseth said. \u201cObviously we don\u2019t want to lose three games. We don\u2019t want to win just nine games. 12-0 is our goal. We\u2019ve got to continue to build up.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I got to play with a Heisman Trophy winner. Played right next to him. I got to tell him what to do on the field as a safety. Stuff like that. Getting to pick off Shedeur, and getting to cover LaJohntay (Wester) and Jimmy (Horn). It was a super-cool thing to go through last season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of Finneseth\u2019s action last season occurred on special teams. That figures to again be his most prominent role this season, with the Buffs adding transfers Terrance Love (Auburn), John Slaughter (Tennessee), and possible starter Tawfiq Byard (South Florida) to a safety mix that already includes Carter Stoutmire, who started seven games last year.<\/p>\n
Regardless, Finneseth is likely to be grateful for his role. He fondly recounts how out of high school he received zero Division I scholarship offers, but took a recruiting visit to check out a premier Division II program at Colorado Mines in Golden. During that trip, Finneseth insisted on a detour to Boulder, where he gazed across Folsom Field while looking down from section 205 in the southwest corner.<\/p>\n
Finneseth has bled black and gold ever since. And he plans to reward coach Sanders\u2019 faith in him with his most productive season yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I stepped foot on campus, one of my visions for this team was to take this team to a Big 12 championship. That\u2019s our goal,\u201d Finneseth said. \u201cThat\u2019s my vision, that\u2019s everyone\u2019s vision around here. The way we have steadily increased year after year has been a super-cool process. The way we\u2019ve progressed, and the way that I\u2019ve progressed as a player, as a leader, it\u2019s super-cool to see all my dreams fall into place slowly and patiently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: August 13, 2025 at 4:33 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During his press conference two weeks ago revealing his cancer diagnosis, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders expounded on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81839,"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-81838","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\/81838","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=81838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}