Links to featured articles
- Travis Hunter joins Rashaan Salaam as the only Buffs to win the Heisman
- Two spectacular freshmen making great additions to CU women’s golf
- Colorado beats Tennessee Tech for JR Payne’s 150th win
- Brodie Pearson among leaders emerging on CU men’s hockey team
- Colorado women’s golf season ready for season-opening tournament amid coaching changes
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Travis Hunter joins Rashaan Salaam as the only Buffs to win the Heisman
Colorado’s superstar wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter was named the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner in New York City on Saturday. Hunter is the second Buffalo to win the award and the fourth to be a finalist.
Running back Darian Hagan was one of eight finalists in 1989, and the following year, fellow tailback Eric Bieniemy was one of four finalists.
Colorado has not had a finalist since their first Heisman Trophy Winner, running back Rashaan Salaam, in 1994.
Now that the Boulder community has two Heisman winners, let’s compare the two.
Travis Hunter
Hunter’s case for the Heisman has not been seen since Charles Woodson won the award with the Michigan Wolverines in 1997. As a wide receiver, Hunter does not have the most receptions, receiving touchdowns or receiving yards; in fact, San Jose State’s Nick Nash leads the FBS in all three categories. As a cornerback, Hunter does not lead the league in interceptions, passes defended or tackles. So why should he win the Heisman trophy?
Simply put, what Hunter is doing on the football field has never been seen at the collegiate level ever before. When Woodson won, he mainly played defense, while tacking on 238 receiving yards and four touchdowns between offense and special teams. Hunter on the other hand is sixth in the FBS in receiving yards (1,152), second in receiving touchdowns (14) and fifth in receptions (92). He is one of two Power Four receivers with these numbers, alongside Maryland’s Tia Felton.
On the defensive side of the ball, Hunter has the highest Pro Football Focus (PFF) grade for a Power Four cornerback (90.3). Hunter has consistently held the best Big 12 receivers to below-average stat lines. All season, he has allowed 22 receptions on 38 targets for 205 yards and one touchdown.
Hunter’s ability to affect the quarterback is impeccable. If you break it down by game, he is targeted slightly over three times per game and allows approximately 1.8 receptions per game.
Nobody wants to throw his way.
Rashaan Salaam
Salaam had a much more traditional Heisman campaign. The running back became the fourth Division I player to break 2000 rushing yards in a single season. He totaled 2055 rushing yards and 24 rushing touchdowns on 7.61 yards per carry, leading the league in the first two categories.
He rushed for over 100 yards in 10 of his 11 games played while eclipsing 200 rushing yards four times.
Salaam helped lead the Buffs to a 10-1 record and the No. 4 seed in the nation. But he wasn’t done yet.
In his last game of the season, The Fiesta Bowl, Salaam rushed for 83 yards and three touchdowns to beat The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and land the Buffs at No. 3 in the final AP poll of the 1994 season.
Interestingly, one of the players that Salaam beat out in 1994 was none other than current CU defensive coach and NFL Hall of Famer Warren Sapp.
Since 1994, there have been over 20 other running backs to run for 2000+ yards and countless who have surpassed 24 rushing touchdowns. There has never been a college football player who truly dominated on both sides of the ball like Hunter does.
The two-way phenom has a chance to become the first Buff to be a top-three NFL draft pick, which would surpass wide receiver Michael Westbrook (1995, 4th overall) and running back Byron White (1938, 4th overall).
As for now, Hunter should be considered the best player to ever wear the black and gold.
Two spectacular freshmen making great additions to CU women’s golf
The Colorado Buffaloes women’s golf team has only one senior leader, but it feels like they have three. The additions of freshmen Sydney Givens and Ellen O’Shaughnessy over the past summer have boosted the team’s play compared to last year.
In five tournaments this season, the black and gold finished inside the top three just once. The team’s only podium finish was at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate in October. The Buffs quintet played their best golf in this tournament, leading Colorado to its first score under par of the season (-3). The herd was led by Givens, who has been on a tear the past month.
Excluding her first collegiate tournament (10-over), Givens’ combined score in the four most recent events is 4-under. She is the only Buffalo shooting under par in the last month. Fellow freshman Ellen O’Shaughnessy holds the second best combined score at 10-over.
“Our team really helps one another,” Givens said. “I have learned a lot from my team on the mental aspect and how they deal with adversity.”
O’Shaughnessy led the Buffs in their most recent tournament by two strokes. Her 2-over score at the Nanea Invitational in Hawaii landed her at No. 20 on the individual leaderboard, her highest placement at any tournament.
The Dublin native not only has to acclimate to collegiate golf, but also to life in America.
“To live away from home in a completely different country and way different culture was definitely one adjustment that I was learning to adapt to,” O’Shaughnessy said. “On the course, the standard is so much higher… Honestly, you’re pushing yourself so much harder.”
Regardless of O’Shaughnessy’s success in Hawaii, the team finished 19-over and placed seventh out of 11 teams. After the first round, the Buffs sat in fifth place at even par. However, the squad proceeded to shoot 7-over and 12-over in the final two rounds.
Higher third-round scores have been a common pattern for Colorado this season. Through five final rounds played in the fall, the Buffaloes are a combined 30-over, but O’Shaughnessy believes the team can turn it around.
“I think we will, definitely, for the next semester and years to come, strive to put those three days together,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Which is so important.”
The squad struggled in its two most recent tournaments, shooting a combined 40-over compared to the collective 20-over score from the team’s first three tournaments. This was partly due to the pressure that comes from facing six of the top 25 teams in the nation.
“We learn a lot from how they play (Stanford and Texas), and we can transfer that into our game,” Givens mentioned. “Competing against those teams has really shown us that we can compete at the highest level.”
The Buffs begin their spring portion of the 2024-25 season on Friday. The team is currently ranked 54th out of 280 universities competing in NCAA Division 1 golf.
Colorado will have a chance to get out of the snow and hopefully onto the green in Mexico at the Collegiate Invitational at Guadalajara.
Colorado beats Tennessee Tech for JR Payne’s 150th win
The CU Events Center was nowhere near full capacity on Tuesday morning, yet noise levels were still a factor in head coach JR Payne’s 150th win at CU.
The Colorado Buffaloes (7-2) defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (5-3) 91-79 in the annual field trip game on Tuesday in Boulder.
The stands were packed with children from schools all over Boulder who came to support the Buffs. Despite less than 20% attendance, it was hard to hear at times due to the screams and excitement from these young children.
“I could not even hear Kennedy when I was outletting the ball… it was ear bleeding,” CU freshman Grace Oliver said postgame.
The game got off to a quick start as Tennessee Tech led 11-8 within the first three minutes of the contest. In those minutes, the Golden Eagles went 3-for-3 from deep, while Frida Formann of the Buffs chased in two of her own.
The first quarter ended with Tabitha Betson nailing a 3 to cut the Tennessee Tech lead to four.
Colorado played a fantastic second quarter, scoring 31 points while holding the Golden Eagles to just 14. The Buffs shot over 70 percent from the field in the second quarter while cashing in five of seven 3-pointers.
The five made 3-pointers in the second quarter were one away from tying the record for most 3s made in a single quarter in CU women’s basketball history.
Both teams were on fire from deep in the first half. Tennessee Tech made seven of 12 threes (58%) and the Buffs made eight of 14 (57%).
The dominant quarter from the Buffs gave them a 52-39 lead heading into the locker room.
The Buffs started the second half on an 8-2 run which put them up by 19 points. Later in the quarter, Colorado gained their biggest lead of the game (21 points).
Despite being down, the Golden Eagles showed some fight to start the fourth quarter. Tennessee Tech began the last 10 minutes with a 10-3 scoring run to cut the lead to six. A 3-pointer from forward Nyamer Diew and two quick buckets from guard Sara-Rose Smith put Colorado back up 13 with five minutes left.
Tennessee Tech was unable to come back in the final minutes, giving Colorado its seventh win of the season.
TTU guard Reghan Grimes finished as the games leading scorer with 26 points. Forwards Ayianna Johnson and Diew were the Buffs’ leading scorers with 15 points each.
Kindyll Wetta has been dishing out dimes all season and recorded another eight today. The senior guard is tied at 6th in the NCAA in total assists with 53.
Two big stories in the game were rebounding and points off the bench.
Tennessee Tech started four guards, and its tallest active player was forward Amelia Pfeiffer (6-foot-1) who only tallied 13 minutes. This was a problem for the Golden Eagles, as they were outrebounded by the Buffs 34-25.
The Golden Eagles only rotated eight players compared to Colorado’s 12, which gave the Buffs the advantage of having fresher legs on the court.
“Our depth is a huge asset for us… We have to keep leaning into that,” Payne said.
The deep rotation from Payne was a big reason for Colorado’s 54 points off the bench, which accounted for 59 percent of their total points.
Colorado played one of its most complete games of the season so far, gearing up right in time for conference play.
The Buffs will host the Southern Utah Thunderbirds (1-8) at the CU Events Center on Saturday at 1 pm on ESPN+.
Brodie Pearson among leaders emerging on CU men’s hockey team
The Colorado Buffs men’s Division I hockey team is 5-4-1 through its first 10 games.
The black and gold lost key players from last year, including their top two point scorers Max Pasiennik and Adam Trunko. Despite losing two of their leaders, many talented Buffs returned to the team. The Buffaloes have the second most points in the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL), mainly due to playing two more games than any other team.
The Buffs have a bright future rooted in a strong sophomore class, led by forward Brodie Pearson. Pearson finished his first season with the Buffs a top four contributor in points, averaging 0.89 points per game with 25 total points.
Senior Drew McConaughy joins three other Buffs playing in their fourth year at Colorado. McConaughy has been the only consistent producer in his class, scoring over 60 points dating back to the start of his sophomore campaign.
Another returner, Rapolas Marcinkevicius, scored 13 goals for Colorado in 2023-2024, which was second most on the team, trailing only Pasiennik’s 15. Marcinkevicius is entering his third year for the Buffs and currently leads the team in assists (nine) and total points (11) through 10 games.
Now in his second season, Pearson looks to take on a bigger role for the Buffs.
The sophomore’s journey to becoming a hockey player started 165 miles northwest of Boulder, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Pearson was born in Vail but moved to Steamboat Springs shortly after. He started skating at two years old and has been perfecting his craft ever since.
Hockey has been prominent in the Pearson family for a long time.
“My dad grew up playing in Edmonton, he played AAA,’” Pearson said. “And my Uncle played in Prince Albert.”
Pearson’s hockey career took off when his family moved to Kelowna, Canada after his freshman year of high school.
The sophomore joined the Canadian Sports School Hockey League (CSSHL) and was changed for the better. The CSSHL is a specialty school district designed to help talented student-athletes become the best they can be. In three years, Pearson benefited tremendously from the training regimen and values in the CSSHL.
“Once I got there, I wish I’d been doing it forever,” Pearson said. “They do a really great job at what they’re trying to do.”
Pearson dominated his first two years in the league, being the fourth-highest point scorer in both years. That changed when he moved up to the Kelowna U18 team in his third and final year in the CSSHL. That U18 team consisted of multiple NHL players, including the 6th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, Tij Iginla, and the projected top overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, Gavin McKenna.
For the first time in his career, Pearson was not one of the best players on his team, forcing him to take a smaller role. Pearson was not flustered and instead took it as an opportunity to learn from his teammates and work on different aspects of his game.
“They’d (Iginla and McKenna) bring it every day in practice,” Pearson said. “I definitely changed … and learned a lot about penalty killing that year.”
Practicing and playing alongside transcendent players pushed Pearson to become the best hockey player possible. Changing his study habits and mindset helped improve his game.
“I started to watch a few players that play more of those second line, third line,” Pearson recalled. “And I just tried to add where I could in the game, because I know those are going to score.”
Pearson was a leader during his first years in Canada and now has the opportunity to become a leader for this Colorado squad.
The experience and connections that Pearson has gained throughout his journey can help him step into a leadership role for the Buffs.
Pearson, a sophomore, along with McConaughy, a fourth-year, and Marcinkevicius, a third-year, now look to bring the best out of their respective classes to help Colorado win the WCHL for the first time in over five years.
The black and gold have the weekend off before hosting Division 2 program Metropolitan State University of Denver on Oct. 18. The game will be broadcast on the Sko Buffs Sports YouTube channel.
Cover photo by Tyler Philips/Sko Buffs Sports
Colorado women’s golf season ready for season-opening tournament amid coaching changes
The Colorado women’s golf team has been preparing for months and finally kicks off their season at the Leadership and Golf Invitational on Monday.
The team hired Madeleine Sheils as their new head coach in July of 2024, yet she will miss the first part of the season due to a personal matter. Assistant coach Mia Landergren, who was also hired earlier this year, will lead the team until Sheils can return.
Landergren competed on the Alabama golf team from 2013-2017. The team won an SEC championship and appeared in the national championships all four years. She plans to bring the philosophies she learned during her playing days into her coaching style.
“I think the biggest thing is the preparation… (and) helping them with gameplans,” Landergren said.
Despite Sheils being out, Landergren is optimistic heading into the season.
“Of course, there will be a different dynamic… but she (Sheils) is still very much in the picture,” Landergren said. “I think the girls have adjusted great and they have been very supportive and helpful.”
Although the team has a brand new coaching staff, the roster looks almost identical to last year’s, with five out of the seven golfers returning from 2023. The two new roster members are Sydney Givens from Austin, Texas and Ellen O’Shaughnessy from Dublin, Ireland. Both are freshmen.
Givens, the Texas native, attended Vandegrift High School where she won the 2022 Texas Individual State Championship. The next year she helped lead the team to win the 2023 Texas 6A State Championship, where she finished second in the individual ranking, four strokes behind one of her teammates.
Going into her first collegiate season Givens knows she has the talent to succeed and has been leaning on her coaches to help her be prepared for the season.
“(Going in with an) Open mindset, trying to learn everything that I can, ” said Givens. “(I’m) trying to take the support system and the coaching staff and their opinions and be as coachable as possible, so I can learn more information and make my game better.”
Many goals have been set for this team, one in particular.
“To attend the national championship this year,” Givens said. “I think it is a very possible goal. With that being said, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication.”
Colorado has a lot to prove if they want to contend with a team like Stanford, who won the national championship in 2022 with Sheils as an assistant coach.
Being eight months away from the 2025 women’s national championship in Carlsbad, California, the nation better be on the lookout for Colorado. But with the season right around the corner, the Buffs need someone to step up and be a leader for this program, if they want to achieve their goal of being national champions.
Who other than the lone senior on the team, Maria Eidhagen Harrouch.
“As a senior… people look up to you, and you (don’t) need to make people feel like you’re the superior,” said Harrouch. “If you just show your vulnerabilities and your weaknesses… or sharing your story, being interested, being a good listener, things that are good qualities for (anyone), I feel like is the main thing (to be a leader).
Harrouch brings a lot of experience to this team as one of the best returners from a year ago. She started her collegiate career at Pima Community College in Arizona, where she was a two-time Junior College All-American. Harrouch was a star at Pima CC and was ready to transition to NCAA Division I golf.
Last year, in her first season as a Buffalo she played 32 total rounds and finished with a stroke average just above 76.
Now starting her last year at Boulder, Harrouch is on a mission for more.
“My goals are to absolutely win the individual title… and I want to go pro in a year and a half,” Harrouch said.
With a high standard set for herself, Harrouch has a plan on how to achieve these goals.
“Mainly I focus on the process, ” Harrouch said. “One of my goals is to have more fun with golf… and see it as my hobby.”
Harrouch can take the pressure off herself by going out there with the mindset that she is just playing the game she loves with some of her closest friends.
Colorado starts the year traveling to Washington for the first two rounds of the Leadership and Golf Invitational on Monday. They will play the third and final round on Tuesday.
Cover photo by CU Athletics/CUBuffs.com
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