Kaidon Salter breaks down how he's different from Shedeur Sanders in Colorado offense

Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter takes the place of Shedeur Sanders as the Buffaloes’ quarterback in 2025. While the battle with freshman Julian Lewis isn’t quite decided yet, Salter is the projected starter for now.

How does he differ from Sanders? Well, ESPN’s Katie George asked him how he fits in Pat Shurmur’s offense after a year where there was a lot of production from Sanders and Travis Hunter, to name a couple of superstars.

Salter transferred this offseason from Liberty, where he had a great stint. But his dual threat ability may make him the player to watch this year when Colorado kicks off this year.

“My feeling is a little bit different from what he previously coached last year, with Shedeur,” Salter said on the ESPN2 broadcast of Big 12 Media Days. “I’m more of a quarterback that can run the ball. Also not saying that he couldn’t, but I’m more mobile with my leg, so when things break down, I’m able to pick and pick up those yards that (were) missed, or at least get back to the line of scrimmage. 

“But being able to complete a pass every play, there’s no play that we have where it shouldn’t be a completion. And (coach Shurmur makes sure that we know where our check downs are at all times. We know our reads, we make sure we know the defense before we even snap the ball.”

Over the course of his career (35 games), Salter has 5,889 yards, 56 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, a 58.7% completion percentage, 2,006 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns. Sanders, for comparison, in his career (24 games) had 7,364 yards, 64 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, a 71.8% completion percentage and eight rushing touchdowns. Due to him not taking off and running, and also accounting for sacks, Sanders actually had -127 yards rushing.

As far as watching Sanders, Salter said he learned a lot. Sanders is now with the Cleveland Browns going into his rookie season in the NFL.

“Yeah, most definitely, just his awareness with where everybody was on the field and where his check down was,” Salter said. “You know, he had a one of the greatest completion rates in college football (history), but just being able to go out there, knowing where your check downs are knowing where the ball should go … is something that I took from (him).”