Kaidon Salter named Colorado’s Week 1 starting quarterback

Kaidon Salter began his campaign for the starting role in split reps with Julian Lewis in the Buffs’ 2025 Spring Game. (Photo by Aspen Doust/Sko Buffs Sports)

At Tuesday’s press conference, head coach Deion Sanders announced that senior quarterback Kaidon Salter will start for the Colorado Buffaloes in their Week 1 matchup against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

This decision came after a grueling position battle with five-star freshman Julian Lewis throughout training camp.

Salter arrived in Boulder this offseason by way of the Liberty Flames, with whom he’d spent the first four seasons of his career. In that time, he recorded 5,887 yards and 56 touchdowns through the air to 17 interceptions. Additionally, he provided a major threat in the run game, tallying an extra 2,013 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground.

“The kid has a ton of experience,” Sanders said at the press conference. “He’s dual-threat, can throw the heck out of the ball as well, he’s the guy.”

Questions surrounding his ability to adapt to the higher level of play in the Big 12 remain. In his career against Power Four teams, he holds a 0-3 record with a 61.7% completion percentage, 620 total yards and three touchdowns to as many interceptions.

It’s a small sample size, but his numbers in those games certainly aren’t stellar.

However, he provides the Buffaloes with something they haven’t had in Coach Prime’s tenure: a dual-threat quarterback. While Shedeur Sanders had good pocket presence and escapability, he wasn’t a scrambler by any means.

Colorado’s run game has struggled as a whole to get anything going in the last two seasons. The running back with the most single-season yards in that time was Isaiah Agustave in 2024 with just 384.

However, NFL Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk took over as the Buffaloes’ running backs coach in February, and they expect that unit to make great strides under his tutelage.

Salter will spearhead this new-look offense with his rushing ability paired with the improved backfield, giving CU a plethora of different run sets to attack defenses with all season long.  

There’s still a good chance that Lewis makes an appearance on Friday night as well. That is, if the Buffs can get to a point in the game where the coaching staff feels comfortable making the switch.

“We’re praying and we’re hoping that you see some JuJu periodically through the game as well,” Sanders said. “We would like to get him some reps as well, but the game predicates that.”

The move to the veteran Salter now gives Lewis plenty of time to develop and keep high confidence to ultimately inherit the offense in 2026 and beyond.