Amid QB battle, Kaidon Salter reveals how he bonded with freshman star Julian Lewis inside locker room
Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Kaidon Salter faces tough competition from true freshman and four-star quarterback Julian Lewis for the starting quarterback role after Shedeur Sanders declared for the 2025 NFL draft.
Spring games are ongoing and they gave fans a glimpse of what's in store at Boulder. While it may seem like an intense rivalry from the outside, given both of them are fighting for the same spot, Salter sees Lewis as someone he can mentor just like Malik Willis did for him his freshman year with the Liberty Flames.
Following Saturday's third spring training game, Salter spoke about his experience sharing the locker room with freshman "JuJu."
"Oh yeah, most definitely," Salter said (2:45 onwards). "I mean, with me being an older guy in the room, of course I might speak a lot to Guju—just on the little things. Like, we had little option plays going in and stuff like that. And of course, I’m coming from a triple-option offense. So, just the little things like that.
"But it’s been all fun. I just remember the time when I was a freshman and I had Malik Willis to mentor me. So I know what it takes to help mentor and, at the same time, compete and do what I have to do."
Deion Sanders avoids putting a name out there between Kaidon Salter and Julian Lewis
Both Kaidon Salter and Julian Lewis bring different types of offense in their play style. Salter is a dual-threat quarterback who relies on both types of game to lead his offense. Meanwhile, Lewis is someone who prefers throwing accurate passes through his cannon of an arm.
As such, Deion Sanders is in a pickle and doesn't want to decide just yet. He may already have decided whom he wants to see in charge but avoided putting a name out there.
“Ain’t nobody care about that, because I may change my mind tomorrow,” Sanders said. “So what benefits us to name a guy the? What does that do for us as a team? Nothing. That may do something for you guys, so you can have something to talk about, but that don’t do nothing for us. It does nothing for us. I’m not doing that.
“Matter of fact, I don’t even know who’s going to be that guy right now, anyway, so I don’t have the propensity to do it, because I don’t know. They gotta perform with consistency.”
Salter is coming off playing four seasons with the Liberty Flames, where he had 5,889 yards, 56 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, a 58.7% completion percentage, 2,006 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.