Report: Colorado to go back to Kaidon Salter at QB against Wyoming

Coach Prime said he didn’t want to keep playing musical chairs with the quarterback position for the Colorado Buffaloes a week ago. After playing the trio of Kaidon Salter, Julian Lewis and Ryan Staub against Delaware in Week 2, Prime landed on Staub as the starter for the conference opener against Houston.

That decision backfired. Staub played like the longtime backup he’s been at Colorado, and wasn’t able to provide juice to the offense outside of some two minute scenarios. Now, it’s back to the drawing board for Prime and the rest of the coaching staff as time is ticking on settling on a signal caller.

Despite the 57-year-old head coach not giving any insight into his mindset on the starting quarterback for the Wyoming game at his weekly media availability on Tuesday, reports indicated that he’s going to go back to the veteran he went after in the transfer portal in the offseason.

Colorado is expected to shift back to Kaidon Salter as its starting quarterback, sources tell @CBSSports.

Started the first two games. Now in line to take back over as the starter after Ryan Staub started for Colorado this past weekend.https://t.co/Jke8JXLdRG pic.twitter.com/xw3dc3cZKs

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) September 17, 2025

Salter didn’t do anything to lose the starting job in the first place through the first two games. While the offense looked stagnant at times with him under center — just like it did at times with Shedeur Sanders, Lewis and Staub all running the show — he didn’t turn the ball over, used his legs effectively — even though he had plenty more opportunities to attack on the ground — and completed over 60% of his pass attempts.

He did miss some easy throws, especially when he was on the run outside of the pocket, but the fact that he lost the starting job due to Staub playing well against a team that just moved up from the FCS level raised some eyebrows. The Buffs brought Salter in to bridge the gap between Sanders and Lewis, and the 35 games he started at Liberty made him more than qualified for the job.

Will the playbook change for Salter? He thrived off a spread option scheme at Liberty in which he was reading defenders and running out in space. So far, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur has had Salter be more of a pocket passer, similar to Sanders and Lewis, which clearly hasn’t made him as comfortable as he can be. He will likely improve as he adds more Power 4 experience under his belt, but if the scheme doesn’t change in the slightest, he might never reach his full potential in the black and gold.

Prime said that the offense is still working towards finding its identity, and going back to Salter would be the start of finding it.

The Buffs’ Week 4 contest against the Wyoming Cowboys kicks off from Folsom Field at 8:15 p.m. MDT on Saturday.

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