Shedeur Sanders-LaJohntay Wester Hail Mary enters CU Buffs football lore
BOULDER — LaJohntay Wester knows college football heartbreak.Wester had a fantastic career at Florida Atlantic, but he’s watched his Owls lose on a walk-off field goal in El Paso. He watched another team celebrate bowl eligibility on the final game of a lost season.Now Wester knows pure, uncut college football joy.Wester was on the receiving end of what instantly becomes one of the most famous passes in Colorado football history Saturday night. He corralled a Hail Mary from Shedeur Sanders after time expired in regulation to force overtime in a 38-31 victory against Baylor at Folsom Field.“Me being in college for a while, I’ve always been on the other end of the stick,” Wester said. “They rush the field after they beat us and we’re just trying to hurry off the field. This time I got to enjoy it and actually connect with some of the fans, take pictures. That’s great, man. It was an amazing feeling. There’s nothing like it.”On a wild night befitting Colorado’s return to Big 12 play, the Buffs could have tied the game on the play before. Sanders heaved the ball toward the same corner of the Baylor end zone, but it deflected off Will Sheppard’s hands on a contested play.The clock still read :02. Colorado had a second chance, and the Buffs didn’t waste it.Three wide receivers — Wester, Sheppard and Omarion Miller — lined up to the left of Sanders. Travis Hunter, by design, split out by himself to the right.Hunter might be the best college football player in America. On this play, he was the best decoy.“I told coach, ‘Let me go to the side by myself,’” Hunter said. “I knew there would be more people on me, and that would give our guys backside a one-on-one opportunity. They did exactly what we thought. They had three people on me. I just know sometimes you got to step back and let the team go ahead and play their role and let them come down with a good play. So I trusted the process.“I just wanted us to have a chance. It’s 50-50, but with our receiver corps it’s more like 80-20. I mean, you can’t get any better than our receiver corps.”Sanders took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left. The Baylor pass rush hounded Sanders all night, sacking him eight times and pressuring him on dozens of his nearly 60 dropbacks.Getting him out of the pocket was also by design, but two Bears nearly converged on him at midfield as Sanders sent the ball toward the front-left corner of the end zone.Wester found the ball in the air and reacted, hauling it in just after Baylor defensive back Caden Jenkins fell down and well before the safety help could arrive. It was the fourth catch of the game on seven targets for Wester.He wasn’t happy with at least one of the non-catches earlier in the game. Then he atoned.“You’re not going to be perfect,” Wester said. “You’re going to have mistakes out there, but it’s just next play man and making up for it. As long as you make up for it, everybody is going to forget about those drops.”The improbability of the play was amplified by everything that led up to it. Sanders was sacked on four out of Colorado’s first six plays after Baylor took a 31-24 lead. At one point, it was second-and-24 with 54 seconds to play and 69 yards to the end zone.Then there was the near-miracle to Sheppard. In the end, Baylor called its defense for the final play. Bears coach Dave Aranda said its name was Victory Cigar.Then it was Sanders and Wester who lit up Folsom Field.“I always have confidence in Shedeur. He’s the reason I came here,” Wester said. “He came and got me and I told him, ‘I’m not going to let you down.’ I came here for a reason. He brought me here for a reason. He didn’t bring me here to drop balls and miss assignments. He brought me here to do what I do, and tonight I did what I did.”And now Wester is going to spend the rest of his life learning about college football immortality in Boulder.Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
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