Replacing a quarterback who could wind up being a top five pick in the NFL Draft next month won’t be easy.

The process of finding Shedeur Sanders’ successor is fairly simple, though.

“You bring in new players, and they come in and they compete their butts off, and our responsibility as coaches is to make sure we play the best player,” Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said Tuesday after the Buffaloes kicked off spring practices.

As head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffs look to build on last year’s 9-4 campaign, they have plenty of holes to fill. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter is gone, leaving the Buffs trying to replace him at receiver and cornerback.

The Buffs’ 2025 season, however, is largely dependent on who replaces Shedeur, arguably the best quarterback in program history.

“Certainly that’s going to be an obvious observation throughout the season,” Shurmur said. “Losing somebody like Shedeur, we’ve got to replace him. I think the important thing for all teams, you sort of rebuild the roster and you have to start over.

“We took with us into the offseason a winning season, and then we want to build on that with the players that are here because you want to try to build a winner.”

“But we’ve got to rebuild it, and so we went out and got two players that we feel like have a bright future.”Senior Kaidon Salter transferred in from Liberty, where he was a full-time starter over the past two years, throwing 47 touchdown passes and only 12 interceptions, while rushing for 19 touchdowns.

“He’s out there doing a heck of a job,” Shurmur said.

True freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis comes in as a highly touted, five-star recruit. After a stellar prep career, he graduated high school a year and a half early to enroll at CU and compete.

“JuJu is phenomenal,” Shurmur said. “He’s a young talent. He’s very natural in what he does, and he’s fun.”

Not to be forgotten is Ryan Staub, a redshirt sophomore who has been Shedeur’s top backup the past two seasons. Walk-ons Colton Allen and Dominiq Ponder are also returning.

“It’s really up to me just to kind of use that advantage I have of knowing the offense and having that edge, and every day I’m just trying to just be the best player I could be, the best quarterback, the best teammate I can be,” Staub said.

Although Salter and Lewis are new to the offense, Shurmur said the entire room has had a good offseason to this point.

“We really like what we’ve seen so far,” Shurmur said. “We’ve built a little bit of a foundation through the offseason, and then out there today, there were some really good plays, and then there’s certainly some things that we’ve got to clean up as we go.”

Salter made the decision to transfer to CU after Lewis had already made the decision to sign with the Buffs and said he came for the opportunity to compete.

“They brought in JuJu and coach wanted to see me come in and compete with JuJu, and it’s all working out right now,” Salter said. “Just coming in, helping JuJu out and also helping each other.”

Lewis, who had been committed to USC before flipping to CU, said he couldn’t wait to get to college after dominating for three years in the high school ranks.

“That was always the goal to skip that last year of high school,” he said. “I feel like high school football probably didn’t have much more for me, even if it meant coming in here, competing for a job young and doing all that stuff. I just felt like it would be best for me getting here as early as possible.”

Now it’s up to Shurmur, Coach Prime and the rest of the staff to figure out which quarterback is in the best position to lead the 2025 Buffs. It’s a process that might take all offseason but is now underway.

“Through the training sessions, because there is no preseason, we have to determine who the best guy is,” Shurmur said. “God willing, we have a number of guys that could be the best guy, and they just go out there and compete. So they’ve got to do the most with the reps they’re getting in practice, learn from the mistakes of others.

“I challenge our guys that we want to have one of the healthiest quarterback rooms in the country because when you have a healthy quarterback room, then all the guys progress, and all the guys develop, and that’s what you’re looking for.”