Pat Shurmur’s trust in Ryan Staub payed dividends for the Colorado Buffaloes

BOULDER, Colo. — The Colorado Buffaloes have been aiming to answer a lot of questions through the first two weeks of the 2025 season. While they answered many in Saturday’s 31-7 win over the Delaware Blue Hens, they came out of the game with a new question that’s bigger than anything they solved.

Who should be the No. 1 guy in the quarterback room?

The debate has always surrounded veteran Kaidon Salter and freshman Julian Lewis, but redshirt sophomore Ryan Staub inserted himself into the conversation as he threw for 157 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Coach Prime said that the plan was for all three quarterbacks to each get two drives to start the game, and when it was Staub’s turn to take the reigns with 45 seconds to go in the first half, the trust he had from his offensive coordinator gave him the confidence to go out and make some plays.

Pat Shurmur, the man who has been calling the plays for the Buffs since midway through the 2023 season, wasn’t going to go conservative just because a less-experienced signal caller was in the game.

“We had 45 seconds at the end of the half, and Coach Prime said ‘What do you want to do?’ and I said ‘Let’s go.’ And he said, ‘Well, Staub’s in.’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s go.'”

Shurmur’s trust in his backup resulted in a quick march down the field and seven points on the scoreboard to give the Buffs a more comfortable lead at the halftime.

“That comes with a lot of reps, that comes with a lot of savvy, and he handled it great,” Shurmur said after the win.

Staub emphasized that he has a good relationship with Shurmur, and that positive connection instills confidence in himself.

“As soon as I’m out there and I get the call, I know that he sees something and this is what we’re going to run and I trust it and off we go,” Staub said postgame. “The relationship with Coach Pat’s been great, I’ve been here for almost three years with him now. We’ve built a great relationship, I think a lot of trust. He knows exactly what I’m good at and what I like and we were able to roll.”

While Buffs fans haven’t seen a lot of Staub over the years, as he’s had just one meaningful start in the black and gold when he filled in for an injured Shedeur Sanders at the end of the 2023 season, he’s been working hard in practice every single day, and all those reps paid off on Saturday.

Shurmur also said that Staub had just discovered on Friday that he was going to see some action in the game. Instead of getting ahead of himself, he went to Shurmur to discuss a gameplan.

“He found out just a day ago that he was going to get in the game. So, he came in to me and told me, ‘I like this, this, this, this and this, and call this here.’ He thinks like a quarterback,” Shurmur said.

Staub could’ve easily left for the transfer portal in either of the previous two offseasons. Instead, he’s stuck with the plan as the backup behind Sanders originally and now Salter instead of taking the route that so many other quarterbacks have taken in this new era of college football and NIL. His ability to produce on such short notice is a testament to what he’s done in Boulder over the past three seasons, and has now earned him an opportunity to go out and compete every week.

Prime, Shurmur and the Buffs now have a short week to decide on how the quarterback rotation will look in the Week 3 clash against the Houston Cougars. Prime said he knows what it’s going to look like, but didn’t expand on the thought any further.

Related

JuJu Lewis says what we already knew about CU’s coaching staffDeion Sanders explains why he’s not in College Football 27Coach Prime is healthy and confident in his Buffs at Big XII Media DayFormer Buffs assistant coach Bob Simmons, who helped CU to 1990 national title, diesCU Buffs head coach Deion Sanders announces that he’s ‘cancer-free’Monken welcomes meeting with Deion Sanders to discuss Shedeur