Colorado football coach Deion Sanders gave a Van Wells injury update Tuesday, and it doesn’t sound like the Buffaloes center is going to be ready to go against Colorado State on Saturday.
“Coach Prime gives an update on Van Wells: ‘Healing. The thing about it, this is a game where it’s next man up. We have the depth that we need, we could always use more. We’re okay at that position. Hopefully, Van gets better soon,’” Colorado football beat reporter Jake Schwanitz reported Tuesday.
The Colorado football program hasn’t disclosed what happened to the sophomore center or when the injury occurred in last week's win over Nebraska, but when Deion Sanders talks about “next man up” and the team’s “depth,” that Van Wells injury update makes it sound like he won’t be ready to go on Saturday.
Wells was a three-star recruit coming out of C.E. King High School in Houston, Texas, and played nine games — 377 offensive line snaps — last season. He is one of the few Colorado starters left over from the team’s brutal 1-11 season in 2022.
The next man up in this situation is most likely Landon Bebee, a grad transfer from Missouri State. Bebee started 31 games at guard and tackle for the Bears and earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors three times. He is an experienced college football veteran who was a team captain at his former school in 2021 and 2022.
Losing his center will obviously be tough for quarterback Shedeur Sanders. The Heisman Trophy candidate is 69-of-89 (77.5%) for 903 yards with six touchdown passes and no interceptions through two games. With Wells out, Sanders and Bebee are surely working together in practice this week to get comfortable with each other, but the quarterback-center exchange will be something to watch Saturday night against Colorado State.