Colorado is entering fall practice without knowing who its starting quarterback will be.
Deion Sanders said Wednesday at Big 12 media day that he wasn’t sure if either Kaidon Salter or Julian Lewis would be his team’s starting quarterback in Week 1. Both quarterbacks were among the Colorado players who attended media day and Sanders explained why.
Advertisement
“We brought both of them because I don’t know which one is going to start,” he said.
Colorado needs to replace Shedeur Sanders after he started for the past two seasons. Sanders was a fifth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Salter transferred to Colorado for his final season of eligibility after a solid career at Liberty, while Lewis is the most high-profile recruit Colorado has signed in Deion Sanders’ tenure in Boulder.
Salter starred in 2023 as Liberty went undefeated during the regular season and made the Fiesta Bowl. He threw for 32 TDs while completing 61% of his passes and also rushed for 1,089 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Advertisement
However, his stats were down in 2024 as Liberty went 8-4 and was just 5-3 in Conference USA. Salter explored transferring after the 2023 season, but elected to stay with the Flames. He threw for just 1,886 yards and 15 TDs and rushed for 579 yards and seven touchdowns.
Lewis, meanwhile, was the No. 10 player in the class of 2025. The five-star recruit from Carrollton, Georgia, was the No. 3 pro style QB in the country according to Rivals. He enrolled early at Colorado and was on the sidelines for the team’s Alamo Bowl loss to BYU at the end of the season.
“I don’t know how it’s going to play out as long as it plays out,” Sanders said. “We can’t lose either way with either of those two.”
Advertisement
While Sanders openly admitted he didn’t know who his starter would be, he was not willing to talk about his health. Sanders had been dealing with an undisclosed medical issue during the spring and early summer and was away from the team facilities. However, he refused to answer an inquiry about himself while at the podium and said he instead wanted to only talk about his team.
