After the Colorado Buffaloes lost to the BYU Cougars in the Alamo Bowl back in December, many fans have been left wondering how this team will look in the 2025 season, the first season without many of the cornerstone players of the Coach Prime era. The fans and the rest of the college football world will get their first glimpse at the new-look Buffaloes on April 19 for the third Black & Gold Day of the Coach Prime era.
In last year’s game, the starters played about 20 snaps on either side of the ball, but that was heavily impacted by poor weather conditions in Boulder that day. This season, the hope is for clear skies so the CU faithful get more time to watch their Buffaloes play without Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter for the first time under Coach Prime.
The story of the scrimmage will be the quarterback position. Colorado brought in true freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis from Georgia, one of the most sought-after quarterback prospects in the country last year. However, they also brought in a veteran, former Liberty signal-caller Kaidon Salter to town to compete with Lewis and help mentor him through the early stages of his career.
Salter will be playing his fifth year of college football in 2025, while Lewis will still be 17 years old after finishing high school in just 2.5 years. Their contrasts in style and age will make for a very interesting battle throughout the offseason.
The Buffs will also have to fill the shoes of Cam’Rom Silmon-Craig, Jimmy Horn Jr., Shilo Sanders and Lavonta Bentley, who have all been around the program since the start of the 2023 season.
The first two spring games with Coach Prime as Colorado’s head coach have blown the previous spring game attendance records out of the water, with 47,277 fans attending in 2023 and 28,424 attending in 2024.
Leading up to the spring game, the Buffaloes will begin practicing on March 11. The time and television details of the game are still to be determined.