Deion Sanders identifies the most important trait he seeks in Colorado QB competition

2025 will be the first season that Deion Sanders is the head coach at Colorado without his son Shedeur Sanders in place to be the starting quarterback. With that has come a competition at quarterback in Boulder this offseason.

Spring practice is underway now and Sanders has begun his evaluation of quarterbacks. Now, he’s also made it clear that the number one thing he’s looking for is the leadership that comes from that position.

“Leadership. Leadership,” Deion Sanders said. “Being able to see the field. Being able to rally those guys around. Because you got to understand, you got to have a bona fide leader. Why are you asking me that? I’m glad you asked. Because you don’t huddle. You rarely huddle in college football. So, those guys have to get the look of the quarterback’s eyes and see what he is consisted of. Is he still composed? They really do that.”

For Deion Sanders, one of Shedeur’s greatest strengths as a quarterback was his ability to get the team to rally. That’s something that he wants to maintain in the program moving forward.

“You would see Shedeur sitting there, going on the sideline, talking to those guys,” Sanders said. “And I always used to tell him to look them in your eyes so they can see where you are and see how passionate you are about the next possession. You want to see that type of leadership, because I know what they have seen. The standard is the standard and we’re not going vacillate from the standard.”

This offseason, Colorado brought in Kaidon Salter as a transfer quarterback with plenty of experience from Liberty. In 35 career games there, he completed 58.7 percent of his passes for 5,889 yards and 56 touchdowns to 17 interceptions. He’s also rushed for 2,006 yards and 21 touchdowns. Then, Sanders also had a major recruiting win from the high school ranks, landing Julian Lewis. A four-star recruit in the Class of 2025, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, he was the 56th-ranked recruit overall in that cycle. So, while young, much is expected of him in the long run.

While some head coaches are shying away from Spring Games, Deion Sanders has seemingly embraced them. He’s gone so far as to share he’d be open to playing another team in the spring and hold joint practices. No matter who it’s against, that Spring Game will be an opportunity for fans to see the new Colorado quarterbacks. After that, the Buffaloes open their season against Georgia Tech on August 29th.