Colorado loses another QB with Shane Dillon’s decision to play basketball
Colorado football fans spent a miserable 2012 season looking forward to 2013 when quarterback Shane Dillon could step in and play following a redshirt season.
But Buffaloes fans will never know if Dillon could have reached the potential he showed as an Elite 11 quaterback two years ago.
Not only did Dillon fail to live up to the hype in spring practices - he finished third on the depth chart - he has decided to transfer and give up the sport to pursue basketball at a school to be determined.
“I was a late bloomer in football and never started playing quarterback until halfway through my sophomore year," Dillon said in a press release from the school.
“I always kind of felt my decision that I had to play football was forced upon me a little bit. People told me I had to make a decision by the end of my junior year between football and basketball because quarterbacks all seemed to commit pretty early. Basketball has always been my passion, and even though I really enjoyed my year here, I felt the time is now for me to make the change.”
Dillon, who is 6-foot-5, said he asked Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle about the possibility of joining his program, but Boyle did not have a scholarship for him and his family can't afford for him to walk on.
Dillon is the second quarterback to leave the Colorado program this off season. Junior Nick Hirschman transferred to Akron after spring drills despite finishing tied atop the depth chart with fellow junior Connor Wood.
Hirschman was the primary backup to Jordan Webb last season and Webb isn't likely to be able to help the Buffs rebound from a 1-11 season this fall after he suffered a torn ACL in spring drills and was arrested on assault charges and suspended from the team.
Wood will go into August as the expected starter but he will have to compete with junior college transfer Jordan Gehrke and true freshman Sefo Liufau.
Wood played in seven games last year with one start. He is the only quarterback on Colorado's roster with any experience at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.
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