Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders’ fork in the road decision given dire outlook by USA Today

Colorado Buffaloes football Deion Sanders has now given both of his veteran quarterbacks a chance to earn the starting job through his team’s first two Power 4 matchups of the 2025 season. Neither has made a convincing case.

Kaidon Salter got the call for the program’s season opener against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, a 27-20 loss at Folsom Field that saw Salter show little of the electric improvisation under center that made him a national name with the Liberty Flames last year.

Ryan Staub earned the nod on Friday night, only after he looked like the best option when he, Salter, and Julian Lewis all got reps in a 31-7 win over the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens in Week 2, against the Houston Cougars in a 36-20 loss at TDECU Stadium.

As USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer wrote, Coach Prime and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur are only considering Salter and Staub in the team’s ongoing quarterback competition. Lewis, as Schrotenboer wrote, is too underdeveloped at this stage.

“He said he had no idea and wasn’t thinking about that after the game. Sanders basically has two choices: Stick with Staub and give him another shot at home next weekend against Wyoming in another night game. Or, go back to Kaidon Salter, the Liberty transfer who started Colorado’s first two games,” Schrotenboer wrote.

“Celebrated freshman quarterback Julian Lewis also is an option but still is considered too young and underdeveloped at age 17.”

The future of the program hangs in the balance of what happens next in Colorado’s quarterback room. Staub, despite his multiple interceptions against UH on Friday night, looks the most comfortable in the offense. Salter not adjusting in his final year of eligibility isn’t the end of the world, besides what can turn out to be a six-figure NIL salary that merely paid for a locker room presence.

If Lewis doesn’t like the way he’s being deployed or portrayed, the recruit who many saw as the reason Sanders returned for a third season at CU without his sons or Travis Hunter could hit the Transfer Portal.

Then, there’d be no plan. And if Lewis and Salter are unhappy, Coach Prime is stuck relying on a Karl Dorrell-era 3-star moving forward. That can be a fine one-year plan, but what’s the long game in Boulder?

It doesn’t look like there is one beyond Lewis, who is nowhere near ready and is not guaranteed to want to stick around with a dysfunctional program.

Not a good place to be for Coach Prime and Co.