NDSU football coach: Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders is 'the best player' Bison have seen yet

North Dakota State head football coach Tim Polasek watched a 250-play cutup of Shedeur Sanders' best moments on film and walked away with an appreciation for the challenge that awaits him Thursday night.

The Bison are one of the most successful FCS programs in college football, winning nine NCAA Division I FCS national championships and exactly 90% of their games (172-19) since 2011, but they have yet to see a talent like the Colorado quarterback.

"He's the best player NDSU has played yet; I really believe that," Polasek said of Sanders during his Week 1 press conference . "This guy is process-oriented. He's progression-based. He's aware of footwork, timing and rhythm. He takes what the defense gives him. He goes to the right spots and on top of that, he can play off of different platforms.

"In my opinion, his strongest suit is that he can get his cleats in the ground and deliver the ball quickly when he has to. That has a positive effect on RPOs (run-pass options) and relief-type plays. He's impressive."

More: Why Colorado's Shedeur Sanders is one of the best quarterbacks in college football

Polasek has only been NDSU's head coach since December, but his ties to NDSU (and knowledge of its history) go way back.

The former quarterback and all-time leading passer at Concordia University in Wisconsin began his first tenure with the Bison in 2006 as a graduate assistant. He spent seven seasons coaching NDSU's running backs/tight ends (2006-2012) and another three years as the program's offensive coordinator (2014-16) with a season at Northern Illinois (2013) sandwiched in between them.

Polasek coached offensive line at Iowa (2017-2020) and was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Wyoming for the last three years. The longtime football coach said he has admiration for the style in which Sanders plays the quarterback position.

More: What Colorado football's coordinators said about Week 1 matchup vs NDSU

"Some of his best plays are the simple play of him throwing the ball away," Polasek said of Sanders on Monday. "I admire Shedeur from the standpoint that he's playing the position the way it's always been intended to be played: rhythm, timing and footwork all matching up. Then you put on top of that the ability to extend plays looking to throw — he's not a runner first but he is capable — it's pretty impressive.

"It's exciting. I think our fans should be excited and should appreciate that they get to see a first-round draft at quarterback get to play against the Bison."

Colorado and NDSU kick off Week 1 of the college football season Thursday night (6 p.m. MT, ESPN) in Boulder.

Follow Colorado Buffaloes sports reporter Scott Procter on X .

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: NDSU football coach: Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders is 'the best player' Bison have seen yet