The Colorado Buffaloes football program will go as Kaidon Salter takes them. And according to USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer, a peak Salter could take Deion Sanders’ program somewhere it’s never been: the Big 12 Championship Game.
Schrotenboer believes Salter reaching 2023 levels of production, when he was on the Liberty Flames playing under first-year head coach Jamey Chadwell, the architect of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers’ deadly RPO attack with Grayson McCall in the early 2020s, is the difference-maker.
“The transfer quarterback from Liberty isn’t necessarily better than last year’s quarterback, Shedeur Sanders. He’s just different. And different can be really good when you have a play-action QB who is as big of a threat to run or throw on any play,” Schrotenboer wrote.
“This is his final year of eligibility, and he might split some time with heralded freshman quarterback Julian Lewis. But if Salter has a season like 2023, the Buffaloes will compete for the Big 12 Conference title.”
Coach Prime has discussed getting Julian Lewis reps. In truth, he’s not the kind of quarterback you change pace with. Lewis is more of a pro-style QB than Salter, who, coincidentally, is a perfect player to build specialized packages for.
To appease his seven-figure investment and keep Lewis happy, Sanders is talking about the Carrollton product shining in his freshman year. It’ll be Salter who determines whether or not the Buffs can remain competitive in the post-Shedeur Sanders era in Boulder.
In college football, you like relying on upperclassmen under center. Coach Prime has done well to honor time-tested traditions. Beefing up the trenches is another thing he did this offseason to get better. With Warren Sapp coaching the pass-rushers, and George Hegamin among three minds coaching the offensive line, there’s elite talent being fed to proven entities in the pros who know what it takes to get there.
Sanders isn’t relying on superstars like Shedeur or Heisman-winner Travis Hunter anymore. He’s simply recruiting like any coach moving up in the college football world would.
And that means finding undervalued game-changing talents like Salter for under $600,000.
We’ll see how Salter changes the game from a 9-4 standard a year ago.