This offseason proved to be a challenging one for the Colorado Buffaloes. From a lackluster recruiting class to Deion Sanders’ multi-month absence, which was due to a battle with cancer, the program finds itself in a bit of an uncertain state heading into the 2025 season.
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Thankfully, Sanders seems to have at least found the quarterback who will help him navigate this next era of Colorado football. The NFL Hall of Famer has officially anointed Kaidon Salter as the heir to his son’s throne, ensuring that the former Liberty QB will be the starter come August 29th.
To many, including the host of the Locked on Buffs podcast, Kevin Borba, it’s not surprising to see Salter receive the starting honors, but it’s not inherently exciting either. “It’s a decision that, I think, a lot of people saw coming, but I don’t know if everyone wanted to see this coming.”
For better or worse, the team’s splash signing and five-star recruit, Julian Lewis, isn’t quite ready to compete. “Julian Lewis is a year away from being ready.” However, even though Salter is more equipped to handle day-one duties, he’s far from being a sure thing.
“It wasn’t a bad year,” Borba noted in reference to Salter’s 2024 totals. “He took a step back last year.” Nevertheless, he remains confident that Salter is in fact the right pick, and that this was always “his job to lose.”
Of course, there’s been struggles and issues with consistency at other positions for the Buffaloes as well, particularly in the run game. Their last quarterback was vocal at times about the lack of talent on the offensive line, and the program’s struggles with running the ball have been apparent for quite some time now.
Those issues will almost certainly continue to appear in 2025, but the dual-threat capabilities of Salter may just be enough to provide some sort of rushing relief for the rest of the herd according to Borba. “Kaidon Salter had four 100+ yard rushing games in 2023. Colorado has not had a 100+ yard rusher in a game since 2022.”
Suffice to say, Salter possesses all of the individual tools that are required to improve upon Colorado’s 9-4 record, but he’ll need to develop rather quickly should he hope to stay off the likes of Lewis for another season. Considering that Colorado is hoping to extend its stay in the national rankings past a quick blip at the #25 spot, Coach Prime and the rest of his illustrious coaching staff will likely be hoping for just that.
