Strike 3: There’s an old adage in football that says, “if you have two quarterbacks, you really don’t have one.”
For the past two seasons, the Colorado Buffaloes have had that one – standout signal caller Shedeur Sanders – taking the snaps. With Sanders off to the professional ranks, the Buffs are now trying to determine who will take the first snap of the season against Georgia Tech. The contenders – apparently not including returnee Ryan Staub – are newcomers Kaidon Salter and Julian Lewis. Both attended Big 12 Media Days as representatives of the Silver and Gold, which in of itself is pretty unusual.
Buffs head coach Deion Sanders said he brought both QB’s to Dallas because the team has not yet chosen a starter between Salter, a fifth year senior transfer from Liberty, and Lewis, a highly-touted freshman recruit from Georgia.
Does that mean CU has a problem? You know, having two means they don’t really have one?
Not necessarily.
This particular old adage has serious holes, especially in the college ranks where more running from the QB means the potential for more injuries. Having a second quality quarterback – and both players obviously have to buy in and have a “team-first” attitude – has saved many team’s seasons. For example, back in the mid 1990’s, Nebraska won a pair of national championships with College Football Hall of Famer Tommie Frazier as the starter and back up Brook Berringer taking a lot of meaningful snaps, especially when Frazier was battling blood clots. Berringer started the Orange Bowl national title victory at the end of the 1994 season and Frazier came in for relief. Berringer, the designated back up, was all set to be an NFL draft pick before he died in a plane crash just days before the draft.
Much more recently, Alabama shared snaps between future NFL standouts Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa as they navigated their way to multiple national titles. In 2017, sophomore Hurts quarterbacked the Crimson Tide to the national title game, but when he struggled, Freshman Tagovailoa replaced him and threw the game winning TD pass in overtime to win the title for Nick Saban.
Both quarterbacks have already had successful NFL careers, with Hurts winning the Super Bowl with Philadelphia last season.
Maybe having two quality QB’s is like having “too much pitching” in baseball?
Said no one, ever.
Back in Boulder, Salter and Lewis are both on the slight side, listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds. Although those who have watched Lewis in high school think both his height and weight listings are little on the inflated side. Whoever is under center is likely to take more than his fair share of physical punishment, especially if what happened to Shedeur Sanders the past two seasons is any sort of guide. It’s very likely that both will see playing time in almost every game they’re healthy for.
Most believe that the veteran Salter will get the starting nod against the Yellow Jackets on Aug. 29, with Lewis also seeing action. If both players can produce at a rate that’s half of what Shedeur did, and CU can even approach the offensive production that they had in 2024, then maybe this two-QB system will take root in Boulder, and elsewhere.
