Christian Fauria Expresses Concerns About Colorado Football Program

Christian Fauria, a two-time Super Bowl champion and former standout at Colorado, has voiced his dissatisfaction with the current direction of the football program under Coach Deion Sanders.

After a recent game, Fauria made his feelings known, criticizing Sanders in the media earlier this week. This frustration, he explained, escalated, particularly after the decision to retire the jersey number of Sanders’ son, Shedeur.

“We definitely want Colorado to thrive; we want it to succeed!” he stated in an email to USA Today. “But I feel uneasy about the head coach’s priorities. I officially stepped away from the program in April 2025 when the decision was made to retire Shedeur’s No. 2 jersey.”

Fauria was a key player on Colorado’s 1990 national championship team, which had stricter criteria for jersey retirements compared to today’s standards, especially in light of recent decisions involving Shedeur and former Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.

Interestingly, Darian Hagan, the former quarterback who led the Buffaloes to three consecutive Big 8 titles and a national championship, has not had his number retired. He boasts a solid record of 28-5-2, while the current Browns quarterback had a lesser record of 13-11 with no bowl wins.

Hagan himself expressed surprise at this situation.

“I can support Shedeur’s retirement while also viewing it as a vanity project led by his father,” Fauria remarked. “This bizarre loyalty to Sanders has now even crossed into the NFL, and I want no part of it. So, I’m reluctantly moving on.”

Fauria clarified that his criticism of Sanders is not personal and made it clear that Sanders’ current standing does not correlate with his son Caleb, who joined Colorado’s roster in December 2022 before transferring to Delaware shortly thereafter.

“What’s frustrating is that any critiques of Deion Sanders are often labeled as ‘hate,'” he said. “It feels like blind loyalty is the only permissible response, regardless of how self-centered his actions may seem. Those behaviors are not what I value.”

Although Sanders has made some improvements on a previously lackluster 1-11 team, Colorado is coming off a tough 3-9 season in 2025 after finishing just 16-21 during Sanders’ tenure.

As former players express their concerns, Sanders will need to make significant changes to restore trust and respect from the Colorado community.