On Sunday, incoming Colorado quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis posted a photo on social media of his locker at the Alamodome next to the locker of senior quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

“You left huge shoes to fill, but I promise to work to leave (CU football) even better than I found it,” Lewis wrote to Sanders.

The night before, CU’s season came to a disappointing finish with a 36-14 loss to BYU in the Alamo Bowl. But one of the positives from the bowl experience was the opportunity for Lewis and incoming transfer Kaidon Salter to spend time around Sanders.

“Tremendous,” CU head coach Deion Sanders said of the benefit of having the new QB recruits practice with CU before the bowl game. “Seeing first of all how (Shedeur) operates at practice and how he focuses as the game approaches, as well as how we move at practice; and the expectation, intensity and the passion for the purpose in practice. And how defined we are and the speed and how the competition level is.

“That was vital on them.”

Lewis, originally a class of 2026 recruit who chose to graduate high school a year and a half early, played in his final prep game just 10 days before the Alamo Bowl.

After falling in a Georgia state title game, Lewis spent a week around the Buffs in San Antonio.

“I think it’s very meaningful,” CU offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “JuJu has a bright future. He was just playing in a high school championship game here a few days ago, but to be around … quarterbacks are always looking for perspective. They’re always trying to learn from other quarterbacks, how you think about things, how you see this. So any time JuJu can spend with Shedeur is time well spent.”

Like Shedeur, Salter was a 2021 high school graduate from the Dallas area.

He redshirted in 2021 but was a full-time starter at Liberty over the past two seasons.

In his four seasons with the Flames, Salter threw for 5,887 yards with 56 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, while rushing for 2,013 yards and 21 touchdowns. Salter was the Conference USA most valuable player in 2023.

“I’m excited,” Shurmur said of adding Salter to the mix for next season. “As we mentioned, when you lose somebody like Shedeur, you need about four or five guys to replace him. We’re really thrilled.

“Obviously JuJu has a bright future, and he’s going to be battling his butt off to be our guy next year. We brought in Kaidon Salter, who is an experienced young man. Got one year left. Really excited for him. He’s roughly a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher. He’s played a lot of really, really good football. So he’s on campus as well. He was out there (at practice in San Antonio) doing his thing.”

Although Salter has a lot of experience, he too benefitted from being around the Buffs and Shedeur during bowl prep.

“For the guys that are going to be here next year, in my opinion it’s the beginning of their next season,” Shurmur said. “So for Shedeur, as he is going out, any wisdom he can impart on JuJu and also Kaidon is important, and they should listen because he’s a terrific player.”

The Buffs also have Ryan Staub, a current redshirt freshman who has spent two seasons with the program. He has been CU’s No. 2 quarterback the past two seasons.

“Ryan Staub has done a wonderful job,” Shurmur said.

“I think his one exposure was last year against Utah where he did a great job. That was one of those games where we just didn’t have enough time, right? Had we gotten back on the field, we might have had a chance to win it, but certainly Ryan played well. He’s done that through practice this year as well.”

As it stands today, Staub, Lewis and Salter will go into spring battling for the top job and Shurmur said, “As the offseason starts, we feel really good about that.”