Fox analyst Brock Huard: Trenches will be key to CU Buffs’ season

Former NFL and University of Washington quarterback Brock Huard is now an analyst for Fox Sports and Seattle Sports radio. (Provided by Seattle Sports)

Like just about everyone else who follows college football, Brock Huard is interested to see how the Colorado Buffaloes will do in their first season with Deion Sanders as head coach.

As a longtime analyst and former quarterback, though, Huard knows the key is going to be how the Buffaloes perform in the trenches.

“From the hashmarks-out, they will be really good,” Huard told BuffZone at Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, last week.

Huard, an analyst for Fox Sports and Seattle Sports radio, played quarterback at Washington from 1995-98 before a six-year NFL career.

Last year, Huard’s alma mater hired head coach Kalen DeBoer, who took the Huskies from 4-8 in 2021 to 11-2 last year. Sanders’ task is much different, as he took over a 1-11 CU team and totally revamped the roster.

“What (DeBoer) inherited on the offensive line especially and then what he could bring in around it and the supporting cast is not what Deion inherited (at CU),” Huard said. “This conversation — can (CU) go plus-seven, go plus-eight? — I am a little slower on that. If he were to somehow get to six (wins) and go plus-five, it would be an enormous step in the right direction.”

CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders — Coach Prime’s son — was a star at Jackson State the past two years, and the Buffs did load up with talent at running back and receiver.

However, the Buffs’ two returning starters up front (Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan and Van Wells) played in one of the worst offenses in the country last year. Several others battling for spots on the line were all-conference or all-American at their previous stops, but played at lower levels. So, there is a lot to prove, even after the Buffs figure out a starting five.

“That will be the question for me is the beating physically, the beating emotionally, the beating mentally,” Huard said. “It’s going to be different than anything (Shedeur Sanders) has ever experienced; frankly, maybe than Deion’s ever experienced, too, because it’s gonna get very real at the line of scrimmage. This is not the spring game. This is not seven-on-seven. You’re gonna get hit and hit a lot.

BOULDER, CO: April 22: Shedeur Sanders passes downfield during the University of Colorado Spring football game on April 22, 2023. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)

“To me that will be the biggest thing, I think, for father and son is some of the physical, mental, emotional adversity that’s coming. How you respond to that. How you handle that. How you use it … to build positively. That will be a lot of the storyline to watch, too.”

A year ago, Washington State’s Cameron Ward made a similar jump from an FCS school to the Pac-12. At Incarnate Word, he was a star in 2021. Last year at Wazzu, he had a good season (3,231 yards, 23 touchdowns, nine interceptions) but played behind a shaky line and was sacked more than any quarterback in the FBS.

“I think that is probably a pretty good comp,” Huard said of Ward and Shedeur Sanders. “I think Cam’s a little bigger physically and took a beating and was able to stand in there.

“It’s just the trench warfare. Now, the Pac-12 is not the SEC, it’s not the Big Ten. It’s not jumping into those waters, but protect yourself, Shedeur. That would be my counsel to him: protect yourself.”

To that end, Huard believes Coach Prime has done a great job in assembling a staff that could make up for deficiencies, especially in the trenches.

“(Coach Prime) is an entertainer. He understands it,” Huard said. “Beyond that, more importantly, the best thing he did was hire a good staff. … For a coordinator (Sean Lewis) to leave a head coaching job to go follow him speaks and resonates. The coaching peers in this world I think were enamored with the move (by Sanders to CU), but then respected the move when they saw the staff he surrounded himself with.”

Lewis came to CU after five years as the head coach at Kent State. He runs a high-tempo offense that Huard believes could help Shedeur Sanders and CU have success.

“That system gets the ball out, that system gets a lot of completions, that system piles up a lot of yards,” Huard said. “That position will give him an opportunity, but he’s gonna have to protect himself.

“(Lewis) is really good. … He has tremendous conviction about what he does, a lot of belief in what he does, and I know why Deion hired him: to protect against some of the deficiencies they will have.”

While Huard, who now lives in Highlands Ranch, isn’t sure how good the Buffs will be this season, he will certainly be watching.

“(CU athletic director Rick George) had to swing for the fences and I think they did that and went big,” Huard said. “(Hiring) Deion was going big.”