Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is no stranger to being at the center of controversy, and he found himself there again following his team's win over Colorado State on Saturday night. Sanders refused to shake the hand of Rams quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi in a clip that went viral.
The Buffaloes rolled to a 28-9 win over the Rams, and Sanders spurned Fowler-Nicolosi at midfield. The Colorado quarterback pointed at his Colorado State counterpart before moving to shake hands with other players.
On his "2Legendary" podcast, Sanders explained his rejection was a response to trash talk from Fowler-Nicolosi. Sanders said he felt disrespected and didn't want to act like everything was all good between the two.
"After the game, I said something to the Colorado State quarterback because he was talking crazy on social media, and he was really doing it for the clicks," Sanders said. "... Yeah, I said something because I'm human. You're not gonna keep talking crazy about us and keep talking crazy like you like that, and the whole time you not like that at all."
In the wake of that incident, Sanders said he felt like the media made him out to be the bad guy without providing the full context.
"It felt like a lot of hate to me personally, but of course the media tried to portray it like I did something wrong," Sanders said. "That's just how it is. We understood what's going on, so we don't get affected by it anymore."
In the lead-up to the in-state rivalry game, Fowler-Nicolosi called out Colorado for caring more about social media than football.
"We'll see how far Instagram followers gets them," Fowler-Nicolosi said.
Sanders, who threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns, got the last laugh as Fowler Nicolosi totaled just 209 yards and a pair of interceptions.