It didn’t take long for the Colorado Buffaloes to make a drastic change at quarterback.
On Tuesday, ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel reported that Ryan Staub, who entered the season as Colorado’s third-string quarterback, has supplanted Kaidon Salter and Julian Lewis as the team’s starter ahead of Friday’s Big 12 opener against Houston (2-0).
The decision doesn’t come as a complete shock after Staub entered Week 2’s 31-7 win over Delaware with under a minute remaining in the first half and orchestrated a touchdown drive.
Staub played the entire second half and finished 7-of-10 for 157 yards and two touchdowns.
As Thamel noted, Staub started once for Colorado in 2023 in place of an injured Shedeur Sanders, a 23-17 loss to Utah. Staub was 17-of-24 (70.8 percent) for 195 yards and a touchdown.
While Staub has proven reliable, Sanders’ decision to roll with him in place of Salter, who opened the season as the team’s starting quarterback, and five-star freshman Lewis, reveals a surprising lack of patience in his top two quarterbacks.
It speaks to the Pro Football Hall of Famer’s urgency in his third season as Colorado head coach.
The Buffaloes are No. 83 in scoring (25.5 points per game) and No. 90 in total offense (351.5 yards per game) through two games. Salter has completed 68.2 percent of his pass attempts but only led three touchdown drives in 14 possessions.
Lewis looked like a true freshman in his brief outing. It’s easy to understand why Sanders would prefer to go with the veteran Staub instead of making Lewis’ first start Colorado’s Big 12 road opener.
It’s still not an ideal situation for the Buffaloes in their first season since 2022 without Shedeur Sanders as their starting quarterback.
Colorado (1-1) needs one of its three quarterbacks to take ownership of the starting role for it to make consecutive bowl appearances for the first time since 2004-05. Playing musical chairs isn’t a successful philosophy.
Staub will get a chance to clinch the starting gig for the rest of the season, but based on the quick hook Sanders gave Salter and Lewis, the carousel likely isn’t done spinning.
