Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders has a certain standard by which his players must dress for a game day.
At the spring game on April 11, one of the Buffaloes’ receivers came to the field “dressed inappropriately,” according to Sanders, and he quickly turned to junior receiver Danny Scudero.
Sanders pointed to Scudero and said to the other receivers, “You see him, how he’s dressed? Thatap how I want all y’all to dress. You see him, how he acts? How he plays? Thatap how I want every last one of you receivers to play.”
Scudero has yet to play an official game for the Buffs, but this spring he established himself as one of the leaders for a team that severely lacked leadership in 2025.
“He is the role model of that room,” Sanders said. “And I love everything about it.”
A 5-foot-9, 175-pound transfer from San Jose State, Scudero led the nation with 1,297 receiving yards last season, catching 88 passes and scoring 10 touchdowns.
Scudero began his college career with two seasons at Sacramento State, catching 52 passes for 664 yards and five touchdowns in 2024.
After two highly productive seasons at smaller schools, Scudero has quickly proven to CU’s staff that he’s got the ability to be highly productive in Boulder, too.
In fact, Sanders has been so impressed that he compared Scudero to former New England Patriots star Julian Edelman, who caught 620 passes for 6,822 yards and 36 touchdowns in his career, helping the Patriots win three Super Bowls.
Sanders reached out to Edelman so he could meet Scudero.
“I wanted to connect the two because Jules could give him some tremendous insight because Danny got that,” Sanders said. “He got that ‘it’ that Jules had. And I wanted him to learn from someone of that nature and that stature thatap a bona fide winner. ‘Cause thatap who Danny is.”
Scudero called it a “surreal moment” to connect with Edelman.
“Just the idea of being able to talk to such a legend like him is definitely a huge thank you to Coach Prime for that opportunity,” Scudero said.
The opportunity came from Scudero proving himself day in and day out since he arrived in Boulder in January.
“I don’t think he’s missed a day of practice; thatap number one,” Sanders said. “I don’t think he’s received a loaf in practice; thatap number two. And he comes to play and to win every day.”
CU’s rebuilt receiver room is loaded with talent, including transfers Kam Perry and DeAndre Moore, who caught a lot of passes at previous stops, and returner Joseph Williams, who starred at Tulsa in 2024 before being one of CU’s top receivers in 2025.
Scudero, however, has emerged as a leader in the room, although he deflects praise in that regard.
“With the guys in that room, and especially the coaches here, it doesn’t really feel like a challenge (to lead),” said Scudero, who had the only touchdown during the Buffs’ spring game. “I’d say itap just kind of just like everybody’s pushing everybody in that room. You kind of just hold each other to a standard and hold each other accountable. And with that, it really just, like I said, it doesn’t seem like a challenge.
“It just seems like you’re coming and playing football with your best friends every day. It really makes it seem fun, it makes it seem easy.”
As a leader, Scudero hopes to help the Buffs improve upon last year’s 3-9 record. He’s been a part of 3-9 seasons the past two years and doesn’t want a repeat of that mark.
“I want to win,” he said. “Thatap why I came here. I truly want to do what I can for this program and help out any way I can just because they brought me in. I keep saying, itap a blessing to be here.”
