BOULDER — Exhale, Buff Nation.

Deion Sanders said Tuesday that Colorado star cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter and wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. “should play for certain” Saturday at Arizona.

Both exited the first half of last week’s loss to Kansas State and did not return but were on the sidelines in the second half.

Hunter suffered a shoulder injury, Horn a knee injury. 

The injury news wasn’t all good for the Buffaloes, however, as they will be without two wide receivers.

Sophomore Omarion Miller likely will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a broken bone in his lower left leg on Monday. 

Miller’s season was cut short following an excellent performance against Kansas State with eight catches for 145 yards.

N.C. State transfer Terrell Timmons Jr. is also out indefinitely with an unspecified injury.

“Just be there for them, that’s pretty much all you can do,” senior wide receiver LaJohntay Wester said. “It hurt more because before the game, he was feeling it. It definitely hurt seeing him go down. The most important thing for me to do is just be there for him. That’s all I can do right now.”

If Hunter and Horn are able to play, CU will have its quartet of starting wide receivers, but Miller had been the team’s top reserve and is viewed as a starter. Now, true freshman Drelon Miller and redshirt freshman Jordan Onovughe will likely be asked to step into bigger roles. Both were on the field for the final drive of the game last weekend.

“Next man up mentality,” Wester said. “I feel like our receiver room, we’ve got the depth in there of guys who can come in and perform.”

Shilo Sanders owns poor performance

Shilo Sanders didn’t need to hear how his father thought about his performance in his first game back from a forearm injury.

“I know I played horrible,” Sanders said.

He saw all of the clips going around social media of his missed tackles in the loss to Kansas State, but knows that comes with his position on the field — as well as the last name on his jersey.

“I’ve been seeing everybody turn on me, but I’m not worried about none of that because as soon as you do good, they’re gonna be right back on your side,” Sanders said. “I’m worried about me getting better. My role, I can’t be going out there not on my game. I’m the free safety. If I mess up, everybody’s gonna see it.” 

The sixth-year senior missed a little over a month and Coach Prime attributed part of his poor performance in his return to rust and a lack of recent game action. But Shilo is confident he can quickly return to the player that was such a key piece of the CU defense prior to the injury.

“The toughest part was not being on the field,” Shilo said. “This is my last season, so this has to be my biggest season. Something like that happens and it’s discouraging, but you just gotta keep going with it because it’s a long season. Then, you work to get back and then you have the worst game of your life. It’s really disappointing for me and especially the fans.”

Notes

• There will likely be a new starting running back for the Buffs on Saturday. While three different players have earned starts this season, there’s still one member of the running back rotation that hasn’t — Isaiah Augustave. Coach Prime said Augustave “may get the nod this week” when talking about the running backs. CU had minus-29 rushing yards, although that was mostly due to Shedeur Sanders being sacked six times. Augustave had three carries for 10 yards in the game.

• The CU defensive line is starting to heat up. After the Buffs totaled just five sacks through the first four games, they’ve had nine in the last two games. Redshirt freshman defensive end Taje McCoy has three in that span, while Arizona State transfer B.J. Green got his first two at CU last week. “It’s really a race to the quarterback now,” Green said.