In choosing to transfer to Colorado this past winter, Danny Scudero knew he might have to take on a slightly lesser role.

After all, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound receiver from San Jose State led the country last season in targets (156) and receiving yards (1,297), numbers that will be tough to duplicate at CU.

Scudero still figures to have a prominent role in the CU offense, but he is eager to spread the wealth among his talented teammates in the receiving corps.

San Jose State wide receiver Danny Scudero, center, runs after a cartch to score a touchdown Aug. 29 against Central Michigan. (AP Photo/Lachlan Cunningham)

“The guys in the room make it easy (to shift perspective),” Scudero said after the third practice of spring on Friday. “Guys like (Kam Perry), that I want to see them eat; and they want to see me eat. I want to see Kam run a deep ball; when DeAndre (Moore) is back, I want to see him run a deep ball. … I want to see Ernest (Campbell) use his 4.3 speed to pass people. I want to see everybody do what they came here to do, and I know that it’s reciprocated where they want to see what I can do, too.”

Perry (Miami-Ohio), Moore (Texas) and Campbell (Sacramento State) were all highly productive at their previous schools last year, too, while Joseph Williams was the second-leading receiver at CU in 2025.

Scudero and those other four had a combined 243 catches for 4,049 yards and 32 touchdowns during the 2025 season. CU also brings back talented returners in Hykeem Williams, Quanell Farrakhan Jr., and Quentin Gibson, while adding two incoming freshmen in Jacob Swain and Christian Ward.

“I would say, one, there’s a lot of talent in this room, from the top to the bottom,” Scudero said. “I mean, everybody that is in this room is a dawg. … When you have the mindset of you’re striving to get better every practice and really just holding each other accountable, that really makes for a dangerous room because you have to put your best foot forward, otherwise the guys are going to get on you. And we really just hold each other to a high standard in this room.”

Scudero is the most experienced and productive of the group coming into the year, however, despite humble beginnings.

Lightly recruited out of Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, Scudero accepted the only Division I scholarship offer he received, from Sacramento State at the FCS level. He spent two seasons with the Hornets, redshirting in 2023 and then catching 52 passes for 664 yards and five touchdowns in 2024.

Last year, he went from the FCS to FBS. Now he’s jumping to a Power Four conference team.

“It makes for a cool story, but at the same time, you kind of have the mindset of you gotta earn everything,” he said. “Everything that is kind of given in this sport, you really just earn it. And the only way you can earn it is just by working.

“When you look up, you see the scoreboard or see what you did at the end of a season and the rest is the rest. So you don’t really look into (adversity) that much, you just kind of just fall in love with the process.”

That process has brought him to Boulder, where he has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

“I’m blessed to be here,” he said. “I think it was really the relationships that I came here on my visit with, with (offensive coordinator Brennan) Marion and Coach Prime (head coach Deion Sanders) and just pretty much everybody here. They were very welcoming, and welcomed me and my mom to Boulder.”

This is the second time in three years that CU has brought in one of the nation’s most productive receivers as a transfer. In 2023, LaJohntay Wester led the country in targets (152) and was second in receptions (107) while playing for Florida Atlantic. He came to CU and still dominated, with 74 catches for 931 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024.

Scudero hopes to follow a similar path as he comes to CU’s rebuilt, Go-Go offense led by Marion.

“(Marion) definitely knows how to get playmakers in space,” Scudero said. “I know he’s said a lot where it’s like don’t count your reps, make your reps count. And that has kind of stuck with me because I mean, he puts us in a lot of positions to succeed; that’s all you can ask as a playmaker. You just want to be in the position to succeed and Coach Marion does a great job with that.”