In 2023 and 2024, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders often made it clear there were only two players on the roster with guaranteed starting spots.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter were two of the biggest stars in the country, so there was no question they’d be starting.
“It’s not like that right now,” Sanders said Tuesday of this year’s squad. “Everybody is earning everything they get, including their money.”
As the Buffs approach the end of spring football practices, which wraps up Saturday, there are no guaranteed starters, and that includes at quarterback, where former five-star recruit JuJu Lewis and Utah transfer Isaac Wilson are battling.
“Itap an open competition for every position,” Sanders said. “You want every position to have pressure applied; like, you want those battles.”
Lewis, a redshirt freshman, came to CU as a highly touted recruit a year ago and sat behind senior Kaidon Salter most of the year. Lewis played in four games, with two starts late in the season, completing 52 of 94 passes for 589 yards and four touchdowns.
Still just 18 years old, as he graduated from high school a year early, Lewis continues to progress.
“His game is developing daily and I’m proud of the strides that he’s making both as a potential leader as well as a quarterback that we can really count on from start to finish,” Sanders said. “I’m proud of the young man.”
Wilson is a redshirt sophomore who spent two seasons at Utah. He played in nine games, with seven starts, for the injury-riddled Utes in 2024 when he was a true freshman. That year, he completed 127-of-225 passes (56.4%) for 1,510 yards, 10 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. This past season, Wilson was third on the Utah depth chart and appeared in just one game, against CU, going 0-for-1.
The younger brother of New Orleans Saints quarterback Zach Wilson, Isaac has had a good spring.
“Isaac can play, man,” Sanders said. “Isaac is applying pressure, man, but thatap what you want.”
True freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne is also competing at quarterback.
Collective effort
Sanders has elected not to have a special teams coordinator, but to have different assistant coaches handle specific areas of special teams. Kickoff return and punt team, for example, would be handled by offensive staff members, with punt return and kickoff handled by defensive staff.
“I like the collectiveness of it; I like the understanding of expertise that we have from the whole staff, and itap a full staff buy-in,” he said. “So itap not going to be blame on one guy that sits there that has to utilize the rest of the staff to support his special teams. Thatap a full-fledged buy-in and I like the way we’re handling that.”
Spring game format
Saturday’s spring game is slated for a 1 p.m. start at Folsom Field. Sanders said the Buffs will likely scrimmage for about an hour. Earlier this spring, team leaders held a “draft” to pick teams for spring.
“They did a good job of picking their talent,” he said. “All the different leaders from each team did a great job of picking talent. They had a whole draft and it was intriguing.”
Sanders said one of his main goals for Saturday is to get out of the game without injuries. CU’s had multiple players out this spring with various injuries.
“I want them to play hard, I don’t want to sustain any injuries,” he said. “So, we want to try to eliminate injuries because we know we have some guys coming back off injuries in the summer thatap going to help this program tremendously.”
Rivalry scrimmage?
NCAA rules prohibit teams from having exhibition games against other schools during the spring, but Sanders said he would like to see that rule changed, and he’d welcome an opportunity to face rival Colorado State in spring scrimmages.
“I would like to go down the street and play a home-and-away against Colorado State,” he said. “I think itap only right; I think itap a beautiful thing. We’re going to sell the stadium out, we’re going to sell their stadium out, and itap a two-year deal, we go home and away. I think it’s appropriate.”
Sanders said it would be a good way for teams to get a better sense of their development if they can compete against another team, rather than against themselves every day in practice.
“We want to really measure ourselves against another worthy opponent that don’t know us like (teammates) do,” he said. “You don’t even have to let us play a game; can we practice against them? Just let us practice against them a couple days and I think we’ll be satisfied.”
CU and CSU have met 93 times in actual games over the years, but not since 2024 and there is no matchup between the two scheduled until Sept. 15, 2029.
