Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes are having the worst luck in the Big 12 heading into Week 6 of college football. The Buffs are at the bottom of the Big 12 after going 0-2 in the conference and 2-3 overall following a 27-24 close loss to BYU last night. Many folks and national media pointed fingers at Kaidon Salter for some questionable RPO plays. But according to Buffs insiders, Colorado’s problems go beyond just Kaidon Salter, Ryan Staub, or Julian Lewis at quarterback.

On September 28th, Colorado Buffaloes’ insiders Adam Munsterteiger, Will Gardner, and Sean Niehoff hopped onto the ‘BuffStampede’ podcast and highlighted the bigger problem that Deion Sanders needs to address. Adam questioned Kaidon Salter’s ability to ball following the 24-27 loss and whether it’s time to put freshman Juju in: “There’s a lot of people that are now saying, ‘Okay, I’ve seen enough. Salter can’t win a game. He’s a head case. He’s not the guy to close it out. So, let’s put him on the bench. It’s a wasted experiment. Let’s just play Juju the rest of the year or he’s gonna walk. He’s gonna leave.” Kaidon Salter started off hot, as the former Liberty QB helped the Buffs with 2 touchdowns in the very first quarter of the game. A 3-yard run and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Dre’lon Miller. Colorado sprinted to a 14-point lead pretty early in the game.

Since then, it was Fugazi for the next three quarters. The Buffs had a 14-point lead heading into the second quarter and fumbled it almost immediately. Although they had a chance to grab a win late in the 4th quarter, Kaidon Salter threw a pick. Salter finished the match with 11 of 16 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown, while adding 49 yards and another score on 17 carries. By no means was it impressive, so fans started begging for Juju Lewis.

Colorado insider William Gardner shut down the idea of benching Kaidon Salter for Juju Lewis for at least 3-4 games: “Not yet. You got to give Kaidon Salter the opportunity the next two weeks and then reassess it after that point. If it’s more of what we saw last night versus what we saw previously, then yeah, you start to build for the future. They don’t give him a whole bunch of things. They give him a system he can play in. You throw Juju Lewis into this system, he’s not gonna look any better than Salter.” According to Gardner, Colorado Buffaloes fans are worrying about the wrong things. The Buffs should not question who’s starting at QB, but who is actually developing these QBs.

Sean Niehoff agrees with Gardner’s take and questions what Byron Leftwich is doing in terms of developing these QBs, while also blasting OC Pat Shurmur: “For a young QB that still needs to develop, you’re looking for a program to provide growth, not just throw them into games to the wolves. So I think that’s an area that absolutely has to be one of the first addressed in the offseason. Pat Shurmur is not a quarterback coach. He never has been. He’s been an offensive coordinator, but always an O-line guy…He was a run game coordinator before he was an offensive coordinator, and then a head coach. He’s not a QB developer…He’s never really been in that role.”

Colorado doesn’t have proper quarterback development, leaving young QBs like Julian Lewis to learn mostly on the job. It can hurt their growth. Pat Shurmur, though experienced as a coordinator and head coach, has never been a true QB developer; his background is mostly with the offensive line and run game. For a freshman QB to succeed, the team needs a coach who can specifically teach and develop quarterbacks.

Kaidon Salter blames Deion Sanders

Kaidon Salter admits that being benched earlier this season affected his mindset and consistency. After starting against Georgia Tech (17 of 28 for 159 yards, 1 TD), he was part of a three-quarterback rotation against Delaware and later sat out the Houston game while Ryan Staub started. Salter says that decision “messed up my head a little bit,” and it showed in his performance against BYU.

Despite regaining his QB1 spot and shining against Wyoming (18 of 28 for 304 yards, 3 TDs, plus 86 rushing yards), the mental toll lingered. Against BYU, a late interception to Isaiah Glasker sealed the game, turning a 14-0 lead into a loss. The turnover highlighted the challenge of finding consistency after the benching. Salter’s rookie season has been a mix of highs and lows, and he openly connects some of his mistakes and struggles to the uncertainty he faced earlier when he was temporarily pulled from the lineup.