For the first time since his debut coaching season at Jackson State, Deion Sanders will have a starting quarterback who isn't his son.
With Shedeur Sanders now a member of the Cleveland Browns, Coach Prime named his 2025 starting quarterback for Colorado, Kaidon Salter, ahead of the team's season-opener against Georgia Tech.
Salter got the nod for Week 1 as the Buffaloes' top passer, beating out freshman QB Julian Lewis.
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Here's a look at Colorado's new QB depth chart, with Salter leading the way in a new campaign for the Buffaloes.
MORE: Sporting News 2025 Preseason All-America Team
Colorado QB depth chart
| Rank | Player |
| 1 | Kaidon Salter |
| 2 | Julian Lewis |
| 3 | Ryan Staub |
| 4 | Dominiq Ponder |
| 5 | Colton Allen |
Sanders announced Tuesday that it will be Salter starting at quarterback for Colorado in Week 1 against Georgia Tech. Lewis was also heavily in the mix, with Sanders and his coaching staff remaining quiet about their quarterback decision over the past few months.
The competition between Lewis and Salter was one of overall talent vs. experience. Lewis enters his true freshman season as one of the top quarterback prospects in the country. He was the No. 12 overall player in ESPN's 2025 class rankings.
Julian Lewis To Quentin Gibson 🔥https://t.co/5hic7R6q8J pic.twitter.com/1YJL0Lpxh7
— The Darius Sanders (@KingDarius_NS) August 14, 2025
Salter joined the Buffaloes in the offseason following four years at Liberty. He made 24 starts over his time with the Flames, a level of experience only a select amount of active college quarterbacks can say they have, while posting some strong numbers in both over the past two seasons. Salter led the Flames to a 13-1 record in 2023 and had 44 total touchdowns.
FLAMES STRIKE FIRST!!! 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/pRczrQrwVH
— Liberty Football (@LibertyFootball) January 1, 2024
Ultimately, it was Salter and his experience that proved most valuable to Sanders and the Colorado coaching staff as the team enters the 2025 season.
Other quarterbacks on Colorado's 2025 roster include sophomores Ryan Staub and Dominiq Ponder, along with junior Colton Allen.
Whether the Buffaloes will actually eventually deploy Lewis at some point this season remains to be seen, but for the time being, they have their official 2025 replacement for Shedeur Sanders.
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Kaidon Salter stats
Salter joined Colorado after four years at Liberty, and is set to spend the final year of his collegiate eligibility with the Buffaloes. He's displayed a two-way ability over his career so far, including a standout 2023 season that included over 1,000 yards rushing.
Here's a look at Salter's numbers at Liberty:
| Season | Completions-Attempts | Comp. % | Passing Yards | AVG | Pass TDs | INTs | Rushing Yards | Rush TDs |
| 2021 | 1-2 | 50.0% | 39 | 19.5 | 1 | 0 | 53 | 0 |
| 2022 | 87-149 | 58.4% | 1,086 | 7.3 | 8 | 5 | 284 | 2 |
| 2023 | 177-290 | 61.0% | 2,876 | 9.9 | 32 | 6 | 1,089 | 12 |
| 2024 | 147-261 | 56.3% | 1,886 | 7.2 | 15 | 6 | 587 | 7 |
| Total: | 412-702 | 58.7% | 5,887 | 8.4 | 56 | 17 | 2,013 | 21 |
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Julian Lewis recruiting
Lewis enters his true freshman season at Colorado as one of the top quarterback prospects in the country.
At 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Lewis was the No. 6 overall quarterback in the 247Sports Composite's consensus 2025 rankings. Coming out of Carrollton, Georgia, Lewis totaled over 10,000 passing yards in high school. He reclassified from the 2026 class to 2025.
Lewis initially committed to USC, and in September 2023 was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Tenth-grader Julian Lewis, already a USC commit, could be the next big thing in football.@brianburnsed on the quarterback prodigy playing the NIL long game, in SI’s ‘The Money Issue’ https://t.co/csksEcozn9 pic.twitter.com/JmlGTI2UFK
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 13, 2023
247Sports' Andrew Ivins evaluated Lewis as "an elite distributor of the football with his quick release and advanced mechanics," despite him not being considered a dynamic athlete. Ivins projected Lewis as a "new-age point guard that can push the tempo in a modern spread attack with his pin-point accuracy and savvy decision making."
In November 2024, Lewis flipped his commitment from USC to Colorado, then signing with Deion Sanders' squad.