Nick Saban explains factors behind Colorado quarterback decision

As part of Nick Saban's guest spot on The Pat McAfee Show Friday afternoon ahead of Week 3 of college football, the legendary former Alabama head coach was asked about Colorado's peculiar decision to hand their starting QB job to the third-stringer.

Originally, the Buffaloes started Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, a prized recruit, but he didn't quite pan out as expected early in the year. So, turning to a different quarterback, Deion Sanders chose to go with Ryan Staub over five-star freshman Julian "JuJu" Lewis, which forced some raised eyebrows across college football. However, Nick Saban explained that he totally understands the move.

“Well, first of all, I don’t know enough about all these guys," Saban noted. "I know JuJu, we recruited him for a long time, he was in our camp, all of that stuff." Without a doubt, though, he does believe the talented youngster is in good hands at Colorado.

"You have to have a little faith, trust and confidence in the coaching staff to help develop a guy and throw him out there before he’s ready," Saban commented. "Because one of the worst things you can do and one of the biggest reason there are a lot of failures in the NFL at the quarterback position is — you draft a guy high, you feel like you gotta play him, but he’s not ready to play and he loses his confidence, he doesn’t have success, and that’s exactly what you don’t want to have."

Often times, superstar QB talents like a Joe Burrow or Patrick Mahomes hit the ground running. But how many first round quarterbacks have NFL fans watched fail at their first team only to succeed somewhere else down the line, once they have gained that experience? Just look at Sam Darnold with Minnesota and Baker Mayfield with Tampa Bay in recent years.

So, Nick Saban doesn't believe the decision to pass over a highly-touted true freshman in Julian Lewis reflects poorly on Lewis or his development but might be the right choice for his career and for the 2025 Colorado football team.

"I can see they’re trying to bring JuJu along the right way, and I don’t know this third-team guy, but I have a lot of faith, trust and confidence in Deion and his staff’s ability to make a decision abut who’s going to give them the best chance to win right now as they continue to develop JuJu," Saban added.

After somewhat of a controversy going to the third-string quarterback and passing up a prized recruit to get there, Nick Saban put the brakes on and explained why he trusts that Deion Sanders and the Colorado coaches made the right choice both for Lewis and for the team. No panic here yet.

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