Kaidon Salter defends players who enter transfer portal

Although the transfer portal is no longer viewed as a novelty in college athletics, some fans still aren’t on board with the idea. On Saturday, Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter defended the NCAA Transfer Portal from critics.

“In today’s world, you can do as best as you can to just stay a brotherhood but at the same time, people got their own goals and achievements that they want to handle in life,” Salter said. “I feel like you can’t down nobody for entering the portal, whether it’s for the money or going to go start, or whatever the case is. Everybody has their own reasons for doing so.

“You can stay as tight as you can until you can’t. You got to control what you can control. But one guy leaves, next man up. So we just do our best to try to recruit the next player.”

The transfer portal has been pivotal to Salter’s career. He was a four-star prospect coming out of high school and signed with Tennessee. However, after participating in spring practice with the Volunteers, Salter was arrested on charges of simple possession and driving without a license and dismissed by Tennessee.

Before the transfer portal existed, Kaidon Salter’s career might not have recovered. Thankfully for Salter, that was far from the case. He transferred to Liberty, where he spent four seasons and amassed 5,887 passing yards, 2,063 rushing yards and 77 total touchdowns.

Salter was particularly spectacular in the 2023 campaign when he erupted for 2,876 passing yards and 32 touchdowns while only throwing six interceptions. Salter’s standout statistics translated to the win column. Liberty went 12-0 in the regular season and won its conference championship.

Now, at his final destination in his collegiate career, Salter is hopeful to prove once again why the transfer portal is beneficial for players. Salter signed with Colorado in December and is currently competing with highly-touted freshman Julian Lewis for the Buffaloes’ QB1 title.

Alas, fans shouldn’t expect to know who will be the team’s starting quarterback anytime soon. After Colorado’s spring game on Saturday, head coach Deion Sanders scoffed at the idea of naming the Buffaloes’ QB1 in the spring.

“Ain’t nobody care about that, because I may change my mind tomorrow,” Sanders said. “So what benefits us to name a guy the? What does that do for us as a team? Nothing.

“… Matter of fact, I don’t even know who’s going to be that guy right now, anyway, so I don’t have the propensity to do it, because I don’t know. They gotta perform with consistency.”