The Colorado Buffaloes’ quarterback competition is very much still open. In so many words, the Denver Gazette’s Tyler King revealed as much while discussing their Week 2 matchup against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.
As King noted, regardless of whether the Buffs build up a four-score lead, which they are favored in most sportsbooks, Liberty Flames transfer Kaidon Salter and 4-star freshman Julian Lewis will both be getting reps.
“Coach Prime isn’t just “hoping” to see freshman quarterback Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis this week. The five-star phenom is going to play, Sanders said Tuesday. It makes sense, too. The Buffs are over three touchdown favorites against the Blue Hens and expect to reach a point in this week’s game where they can get looks at players not currently in the starting lineup. If that doesn’t happen, that probably means it’s time to give Lewis a look anyway as Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter should be able to lead the offense to multiple scoring drives early in the game. How each player looks could shape an interesting conversation heading into next week’s Big 12 opener at Houston,” King wrote.
Deion Sanders announced earlier in the week that Lewis will be making his debut one way or another with Delaware in town.
“He's playing this week for sure. I know when we're going to see him. You just don't know when you're going to see him,” Sanders said at a press conference.
"We take one game at a time. I just told you he was playing, now you're saying he's starting. Come on, dog. Work with me, baby, just work with me. He's playing, alright?
“You gotta understand, I love that kid, I really do, and I want him to be extremely successful. Sometimes you don't want to rush things, sometimes you don't want to delay things. You want to make sure the timing is right. I don't think the time was appropriate last week, I really don't, and the way the game was flowing, the rhythm of the game. But this week, I made up my mind already before now, he's gonna play. I don't care about the flow or nothing, he's playing.”
Coach Prime and Pat Shurmur didn’t do Salter favors during a 27-20 Week 1 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Still, Salter wasn’t as dynamically dominant in the running game as he was in Lynchburg.
We’ll see if Lewis can show more when he makes his debut on Saturday.