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Kaidon Salter Takes the Lead in CU’s Search for an “Identity”
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Coach Prime has spent decades in front of a microphone.
A celebrity since stepping on to national stage some 40 years ago at Florida State, Coach Prime has proven to be more than capable of holding his own with the press.
And yet, when the Buffs are not living up to expectations, Coach Prime has shown us his human side. He has become short at times with some members of the press, ignoring or excluding others who he perceives to be negative, and he can be a little prickly when things are going as well on the field as he – or the Buff Nation – expect.
The week before the Houston game, Coach Prime went on a rant about an ESPN report that Ryan Staub would start at quarterback: “Nobody gives a darn about being correct and being right”, he said. “Everybody just wants to be first. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I would love the integrity that we once had with media. I would love that.”
Of course, as it turned out, the report was not only first, but correct.
In his weekly press conference leading up to the Wyoming game, Coach Prime was asked what appeared to be a legitimate question. The reporter, with CU at 1-2 after a poor showing in a 36-20 loss to Houston, asked about CU’s struggles to find an identity as a team. The response:
“I don’t really get into the identity thing, not whatsoever. I would like to do some things better. We like to stop the run. We’d like to run the ball.
“We’d like to be consistent offensively and defensively. We’d love to do those things better. But I can’t be narrowed down with ‘what’s your identity?’ What does that mean? What does that mean? ‘What’s your identity?’ I don’t even know what that means.”
College football fans, though, understand what it means when a program has an identity.
When Kyle Whittingham’s Utah program is discussed, the descriptions usually include toughness, with a strong defense as its base. The Utes never seemed to care when they only had fair to middling quarterback play, with little emphasis on the passing game … unless you include a star tight end who can split defenses, and come up with eight-yard receptions on third-and-seven. They were physical, and would beat you down.
That’s an identity.
Across the nation, there are pass-happy air raid offenses playing little defense, more than happy to play in 42-38 shootouts. There are also teams like Iowa, which consistently plays good defense, yet has an offense which has often been a national punch line.
Quality programs usually have one – or more – facets to their game which stand out. They have plays, units, or schemes which they can rely upon when the game gets tight.
“Identity” is not calculus. It’s what you do well. It’s what you go to when you need to win the game.
Now, when CU went 9-4 in 2024, the Buffs – whether Coach Prime embraced it or not – had an identity.
It was the Shedeur and Travis show. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders set over 100 school passing records, while at the same time being sacked a record number of times. Colorado wouldn’t/couldn’t run the ball, finishing last in the nation in rushing. The Buffs’ offense consisted of Shedeur scrambling around until he was either, a) sacked; or b) found one of his four NFL-bound wide receivers. Travis Hunter led an opportunistic defense which bent, but, in crucial moments, didn’t break.
That was CU’s identity in 2024.
What to make of the 2025 team?
Well, Coach Prime wanted to have an identity of being able to run the ball this fall. Remember Coach Prime’s quote during Fall Camp? “The commitment we have to the running game this year,” he said. “We are going to run the durn ball, and we are going to be tremendously physical.”
That hadn’t worked out so well with CU stumbling to a 1-2 start. The Buffs were not last in the nation in rushing offense … but ranking 104th wasn’t what Coach Prime had in mind. CU’s rushing defense, which was supposed to be the hallmark of Robert Livingston’s deep and talented defensive line, wasn’t any better, with CU 123rd in the country in stopping the run.
And the starting quarterback situation? The turnstile was a huge concern for Buff Nation, and great fodder for the national pundits.
In the 36-20 loss to Houston, nothing went right. The Buffs were bad on both sides of the ball. Perhaps not 2022 Karl Dorrell 1-11 bad, but certainly CU’s seven-game-losing-streak-to-end-the-2023-season bad.
The Buffs were rudderless. No established quarterback. No established passing or rushing attack. No reliable aspects to their defense.
No identity.
If the Buffs had lost to Wyoming, with the next four games all against potentially Top 25 ranked opponents … the 2025 season could have quickly spiraled out of control.
Against Wyoming, though, CU made significant strides.
Yes, Wyoming is a lower tier team in a G5 conference, but the return of Kaidon Salter, and the return of the forward pass to the CU offense, gives Buff fans reason for hope.
Salter went 18-for-28 for 304 yards and three touchdowns, with the passing scores going for 29, 68, and 47 yards. This for an offense which, for the first three games of the season, had the quarterback throwing the ball at or behind the line of scrimmage on almost every attempt.
And Salter’s success passing may not have even been the best part of his evening. Salter also had 11 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown. The 35-yard scoring run to ice the game in the final may have padded the stats, but the fact is that, unlike the Georgia Tech game, when he pulled up and passed on several occasions instead of tucking the ball and running for a first down, Salter took advantage of opportunities to run the ball and move the chains.
Other than one Shedeur-esque sack Salter took on CU’s opening drive (CU’s only surrendered sack of the night), the Buff quarterback was always moving forward. His 68-yard touchdown connection with Sincere Brown was a thing of beauty. Flushed out of the pocket, Salter kept his head. Drifting off to his right, Salter floated a pass over the Wyoming defender for about a 20-yard gain, with Brown using his speed to take care of the rest.
“I don’t try to run it”, Salter said after the game. “I know that my legs can get me out of trouble, and that’s what I had to do today. But they had great blockers down the field with the receivers once they saw me scrambling, even in scrambled drills, like the one where Sincere Brown got his touchdown off-schedule. Plays like that are going to win games”.
The 37-20 victory was refreshing, but there are still holes. CU’s defense continues to give up big plays, and has trouble consistently stopping the run.
“The defense, we got work to do”, said Coach Prime of his defense, which gave up 348 yards of total offense to a Wyoming team which had only 229 yards of total offense (and only six points) at home against Utah the week prior. “Man, come on. We can’t let a team just drive down the field on us like we ain’t even out there”. The Buff defense did produce two sacks, including Arden Walker’s safety, but created no turnovers (and, of course, there were the three pass interference penalties early, all coming on third downs).
The Buffs may not have established an identity behind Salter’s quality play and better play calling, but it’s a start.
“The young men couldn’t wait to go out there and perform”, Coach Prime said. “They had a chip on their shoulder because they wanted to prove they could do better than the show we had in Houston. But it was tremendous, and I’m proud of them, but we didn’t finish like I wanted to finish.”
CU’s “preseason” is over. There are no other games on the schedule with which to tinker and experiment. Against BYU, TCU, Iowa State and Utah – CU’s next four opponents – the Buffs will have to present a finished product if they expect to win.
Kaidon Salter gave the Buff Nation a glimpse of what is possible with the 2025 Buffs.
And that’s more than we had a week ago …
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5 Replies to “Kaidon Salter Leads CU’s Search For An Identity”
V.K. WHERE YOU AT YOUNG MAN ? MISSING YOUR SHARP SARCASM AND HUMOR AND OCCASIONAL CRITIQUE OF STEWART’S POSTS.
In many seasons, your identity becomes clearer as the team plays more games. With so much roster movement, except for a very few teams, it is about putting the puzzle pieces together in getting your best guys on the field and comfortable with the players next to them. Early on the Buffs and a bunch of teams play multiple players seeing who steps up, what works and what does not work, and eventually the identity emerges for that squad. I think people forget, this is a transition year, as we lost so many players to the NFL and our best LB to Alabama. However, we brought in guys too and have some Frosh, transfers and underclassman stepping up to play bigger roles, yet not together.
So much focus is on the offense, however I look at the D. I think most of us envisioned the defense being well ahead of the offense. We thought our Dline would be elite (both talented and deep) anchoring the team with a solid defensive backfield, since we had solid returning players with experience. That has not gone to plan, but we looked better against Wyoming. At least we forced some punts, however forcing turnovers has been elusive.
On offense, many knew it would be something new and it has been a huge adjustment. Same thing, getting the right player mix and finding out what works. Maybe we expected a vastly improved offensive line and running game, but that does not gel overnight. We are still plugging in players and adjusting.
I do think CU’s identity in terms of roster culture is much better. Practice hard with intense competition. Always work on preparation and learn from mistakes. Each year Prime has been here, the best players tend to play as the season goes on.
One overlooked stat in the two post-game writeups I’ve read here so far – no lost fumbles, and no INT for Salter.
Looks like the offense came to terms with dumping those annoying horizontal bubble screens and throwing the football down field.
Salter looked much more comfortable. The defense still got gashed which continues to be an issue. Good win overall and much needed. Upcoming schedule looks pretty brutal.
As always, well done! The Brown throw was beautiful, showed much better accuracy in/out of the pocket last night. If he can play that way consistently, with our WR room, we can win some shootouts.