Is Julian Lewis ready to start Week 1 for CU, or should Kaidon Salter be the guy?

Happy almost Fourth of July, Buffs fans! Independence Day marks the final holiday on the calendar before college football is back at Folsom Field, and the Colorado Buffaloes have an important season on the horizon with a team that’s going to look much different than in years past. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Shedeur Sanders are in the NFL now, so there will have to be some players ready to step up to the challenge for CU when Georgia Tech comes to Boulder on Aug. 29.

Sanders led one of the best offensives in the country as CU went 9-4 and was once knocking on the door of the College Football Playoff. Heading into this season, the team has to figure out who’s calling the shots under center, as they have two viable, but very different candidates.

The quarterback battle between Kaidon Salter and Julian Lewis is the biggest story for the CU offense this preseason. After the two duked it out in the spring game back in April, there was no telling who was going to win the starting job, and Coach Prime wouldn’t budge either. Lewis, the young freshman out of Georgia, plays a similar offensive style to Shedeur Sanders with the ability to dissect defenses from the pocket, while Salter, the veteran transfer from Liberty, is a guy who can move the pocket and utilize his legs as another weapon.

This is the start of a weekly position preview for CU football leading up to the start of the season. A different position group will be covered every single Friday from now until Aug. 22, one week before the start of the season!

Kaidon Salter

Salter would be the safer bet for CU to start Week 1, as he has appeared in 35 games at quarterback for the Flames in four years. He led Liberty to a 13-1 record and a Conference USA title in 2023, as he threw for nearly 3,000 yards, rushed for over 1,000, and put up 44 total touchdowns. However, his worst performance of the season came in the Fiesta Bowl against the only power-conference team they played that year in Bo Nix and the Oregon Ducks.

Here’s almost 4 minutes of Liberty QB, Kaidon Salter, doing not normal things on the football field. I don’t have full game tape of him, but the high end flashes have me more than intrigued.

The offense he’s in makes it difficult to tell how he’ll operate versus pressure or in… pic.twitter.com/QSwMRDPcqV

— Lane (@lane_caballero) July 31, 2024

In 2024, his numbers took a big hit, as he threw for just 1,886 yards and 15 touchdowns. On the ground, he only tallied 587 yards and seven touchdowns. His final outing of the season was a 12-for-35 showing with 85 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions against Sam Houston State. If he did that against Group of 5 competition, what will it look like against BYU and Arizona State?

Julian Lewis

Lewis is only 17 years old on the other hand. He’s supposed to be a senior in high school, but reclassified to 2025 to hit the college football landscape a year early. In three years in high school, he threw for 11,010 yards as he led Carrollton to a 39-4 record in games he started against Georgia’s top competition. He became the second player to ever win the Gatorade Player of the Year Award twice (Trevor Lawrence) and led his school to the state title game twice. He’s got all the accolades you would want out of a three-year starter, and he’s got the tools to do damage at the college level.

8-0 More Work To Do! #GoTrojans@CoachJoeyKing @TheCoach_Barge@coachJimJones @JoshBarge12 @Carrollton_High pic.twitter.com/62wITzO9aA

— Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis QB (@JulianLewis10) October 17, 2024

As seen in the tape, Lewis does a lot of work from the pocket, but when he needs to, he can escape with his legs to pick up some yards and move the sticks (sound familiar?). While he obviously won’t be able to make as many plays with his feet for CU in the Big 12, given that the defenses are way faster and more talented, his arm talent alone will be enough to make him one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. He has great accuracy in all three levels of the passing game, but those windows will be tighter than they were in high school.

He was rated as one of the top quarterback recruits in the country last season, and the film backs it up. However, the teams on CU’s schedule will provide an entirely different test than Lewis’ high school opponents, and the biggest question is whether or not he’ll be ready right away, or if he’ll need some time on the sideline to digest the speed of college ball.

Another aspect regarding both Lewis and Salter is their size. With both standing at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, they aren’t the biggest guys in the building. For Lewis, he’s only 17 years old, so he’s not expected to be fully filled out right away, and Salter has shown that he’s been able to make it work and take some hits over the years.

The likely outcome for the season is for Salter to start for CU and mentor Lewis early on. If Salter plays like his 2023 self, then he should hold onto the starting job. If the middle of the season comes around and he’s struggling, then the keys should be handed to Lewis. Experience goes a long way in college football, as seen with quarterbacks like Dillon Gabriel, Bo Nix, Will Howard and more.

There’s nothing wrong with Lewis being on the sidelines to start the season, and it might actually be better for his development as a quarterback, given the experience Salter brings to the table. He showed in the spring that he has the tools to start right away, but the quarterback battle in August will be the deciding factor to the start of the season for Coach Prime and CU.

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