Georgia Tech

Colorado picks veteran over Julian Lewis as starting QB vs. Georgia Tech

Former Carrollton High star, Lewis could come off the bench Friday against Yellow Jackets.
Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter will start Friday's game against Georgia Tech. (LM Otero/AP)
Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter will start Friday's game against Georgia Tech. (LM Otero/AP)
3 hours ago

On Tuesday, Colorado coach Deion Sanders announced Kaidon Salter would start at quarterback when the Buffaloes open the season against Georgia Tech at 8 p.m. Friday in Boulder.

“The kid has a ton of experience. Dual threat. He can throw the heck out of the ball, as well,” Sanders said. “He’s the guy. He’s the guy at this point. We’re praying and we’re hoping that you see some of (Julian Lewis) periodically through the game, as well. We would like to get him some reps, as well. But the game (flow) predicates that.”

Salter (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) won a preseason quarterback competition against Lewis, a major recruit out of Carrollton High School who originally committed to Southern California. Salter transferred to Colorado after four seasons at Liberty.

Sanders’ announcement came a little more than 30 minutes after Tech coach Brent Key met with reporters at Bobby Dodd Stadium. But the news out of Boulder likely won’t have much bearing on the Yellow Jackets as they continue to prepare in Atlanta.

“They have two quarterbacks there that we both know about, and we’ll prepare for both of ‘em,” Key said. “Wouldn’t be surprised if we see both of ‘em play in the game, or they could go with one the whole time out. Don’t know that. We can’t predict that. Those things we can’t really affect or do anything about we’re not going to. I guess we’ll see on Friday.”

A Texas native, Salter had nearly 8,000 yards of offense at Liberty and accounted for 77 touchdowns. In 2023, he was a national player of the week twice, a Maxwell Award semifinalist, Conference USA male athlete of the year, Conference USA regular-season MVP and Conference USA championship game MVP. Salter was an honorable mention all-C-USA selection in 2024.

A part of 26 wins during his career with the Flames — as well as a 13-1 2023 season that saw Liberty lose to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl — Salter has played in only three games against a Power 4 conference opponent: the loss to Oregon, a 2022 loss at Wake Forest (37-36) and 2022 loss to Virginia Tech (23-22).

Salter went 46-for-76 passing for 501 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions to go with 119 yards and one score in those games.

Tech safety Clayton Powell-Lee said Tech’s defense has been watching Salter’s film from his time at Liberty, but also studying Colorado’s offense from the past two seasons and even Sanders’ teams at Jackson State, where Sanders coached from 2020-22.

The Jackets also have been cramming their notebooks with information on Lewis, a Carrollton teammate of Tech defensive back Kelvin Hill. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound freshman threw for 11,010 yards in three seasons and was the 2024 Georgia player of the year.

“Even though he’s never played a down or snap, they’ve been hyping him up a lot, just saying that he’s gonna play, supposedly,” Powell-Lee said. “So whenever he gets out there we can always just keep on playing even though he has different keys than his companion.”

Colorado’s offense had been led by Shedeur Sanders, Deion Sanders’ son, who threw for 7,364 yards and 64 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Pat Shurmur is starting his third season in charge of the Colorado offense.

“We’re expecting them to be a dynamic offense. That’s not gonna change,” Key said. “Coaches are the same, coordinators are the same that’s calling the plays. They got two really talented quarterbacks. One of ‘em’s had a lot of production at the college level and one of ‘em’s had a tremendous amount of production at the high school level and was a midyear (enrollee), been there in the system for a while.”

About the Author

Chad Bishop is a Georgia Tech sports reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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