The jersey retirement was meant to be the story. Shedeur Sanders had just capped off his college career, leaving behind a legacy. His No. 2 lifted into the rafters, a symbol of everything he’d given to the program. But the celebration barely had time to breathe. Before the applause faded, the tone shifted. The jokes came rolling in. Loud, public, and nationally televised.

He didn’t clap back on social media. Didn’t call anyone out. No interviews, no headlines. But his response? It spoke volumes. Quiet, deliberate, and impossible to miss. And honestly, it might’ve said more than any tweet ever could.

At the ESPY AWARDS, Shane Willis recently took a jab at Sanders, calling out his Colorado ‘legacy.’ I think we all know Sanders enough to believe he wouldn’t just sit back and take that humiliation. You’d expect him to hit Gillis back with a tweet roasting him. Or an interview. But no, he responded in a much better fashion. A training montage on Instagram. And when a football player wants to make a statement? This is as good as it gets.

No doubt, it’s literally Hollywood-level direction and production. We won’t go as far as comparing it to those Rocky montages, but this is as close as it gets. There’s fire. There’s sweat. There’s slow-motion sprinting. There’s also Shedeur whispering some next-level football poetry: “No excuses, puttin’ in the work. Do what I gotta do. ‘Bout to be time to be legendary. Whenever that time is.” Coach Prime probably gave him those lines, but it hits.

And no, Sanders wasn’t the only one Gillis poked fun at. Bill Belichick wasn’t safe either. “Coach Belichick, good to see you here, man. Coach just got out of a 20-year relationship and is already dating a 24-year-old. That’s impressive. And he didn’t stick to just football. WNBA’s Caitlin Clark ‘joke’ arguably got the most criticism. “When Caitlin Clark retires … she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue… fist-fighting Black women,” Gillis said.

So, yeah. Sanders’ response? Satisfying. It might be fair to call Sanders for the Browns situation right now, the man is last in the QB depth chart. It’s fair. But to pin down his college legacy to nepotism? That’s unfair. Let’s understand why.

Why Shane Willis’s jab doesn’t hold up

The comment that sparked all of this? “Shedeur Sanders had his jersey number retired at Colorado this year… People are saying it’s because of nepotism… It’s not. He went 13–12 over his career & he almost won the Alamo Bowl. Definitely not nepotism?” Gillis said. If you’re someone who watched Sanders during his Colorado days, you’d understand the inaccuracy of this remark.

It’ll get you a few laughs, yes. Just like Lamar Jackson laughed awkwardly at the joke at the event. But also…this argument is kind of lazy. Yeah, Shedeur’s record sits at 13–12, that number doesn’t even come close to telling the whole story. In 2024, the guy lit it up with 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns, leading the entire Big 12 in both. He put up more than just stats. He took home the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Genuine question: what more could he have done?

And that jersey retirement? It wasn’t about some .500 record. It was about what Shedeur meant to Colorado. He and his father took a team that went 1–11 before he got there and turned it into something people actually talked about. He put Boulder back on the map, and that’s what got his No. 2 lifted into the rafters.

Yeah, Shane’s joke landed in the room, and he got a few laughs here and there. But let’s be real: the whole “nepotism” thing falls apart the second you actually look up Shedeur Sanders’ legacy at Colorado. And if you’ve followed him long enough? You’d know that he has everything he needs to turn things around for him at the Browns as well. It might take a while, but he will get there. What do you think?