Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders didn’t write off Ryan Staub as a potential successor to Shedeur Sanders under center during the 2025 season.
Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter is the expected starter, while four-star Carrolton quarterback Julian Lewis is making over $1.2 million in NIL after an unprecedented push from the Buffs’ brain trust.
“They are learning. Every day they are getting better and better. They are starting to understand the system. It is tougher on Pat (Shurmur) and the offensive coaches because you have two different type of quarterbacks. So, you are pretty much calling two different type of offenses. When this quarterback is in, you call it in this way. When this guy is in, you call it this way. (Ryan) Staub is the most versatile. He can do a little bit of both,” Sanders said, per 247 Sports.
“It is not easy whatsoever but these two guys... these three guys, Staub has had a tremendous spring to me as well. He's in it as well. It is totally different because we've had old reliable (in Shedeur Sanders) and we didn't have to blink. We knew what we were getting on Saturday.
“Now we have to really think about this thing and see who these guys are so we can put them in the right position for success. And that is probably the main thing, kind of figuring these guys out, what they are good at, what they are not, what they are comfortable with, how much can we push them? And we still have a whole summer to do so as well.”
Staub hasn’t been excluded from discussions on Colorado’s potential QB1 at any point this offseason. While it’s an uphill climb since Pat Shurmur specifically wanted a veteran transfer with limited eligibility before adding Salter and Lewis is clearly the future at the position, it’s on the table.
Sanders has always spoken well of Staub, mentioning that Staub deserves to find an opportunity to start after a 23-17 loss to Utah in Week 13 during the 2023 season.
Staub stuck it through and is looking for that starting job at CU in one of Boulder’s feel-good offseason stories.