In an interview with Phillip Dukes, on The Scoop with Dukes, Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion laid out how Colorado is approaching life in its second season after Shedeur Sanders moved on to the NFL and why the current quarterback room looks different.
“When you come from a generational style quarterback…you do not really hear about a quarterback competition,” Marion said. “When Shedeur goes to the NFL and starts…you do not really think about that.”
This year, you have to. While there may be other bodies in the room, this realistically comes down to two quarterbacks, Julian Lewis and Isaac Wilson. And through the spring, neither created real separation.
It would seem likely that highly rated Lewis entering his second season in Boulder would have the edge going in, but nothing in the spring suggested that gap is significant.
That is not a red flag. It is exactly what Marion wants. “My job as a coach is to fill the room with guys that can play winning football,” Marion said. “We do not want to have any backup style quarterback…we want guys that can go in there, make an impact, win games.”
Even if the depth chart technically extends beyond two, the reality is simpler. Colorado is looking for one starter, but building around the idea that more than one player has to be ready.
Marion pushed back on the idea that this is some dramatic quarterback controversy.
“I thought the quarterback room did a really good job…of understanding that it is not really a competition,” he said. “When you are at the top with elite talent, it is a collaboration.”
That word matters. Collaboration. It showed up in spring practice, where both quarterbacks had their days. One drive led by Lewis, the next by Wilson. Some days one looked sharper, other days it flipped. And occasionally, both were on, which is exactly the environment Colorado is trying to create.
“The team chooses the starting quarterback,” Marion said. “The guy who is going to go out there is going to be the guy who can lead his group…it does not matter if he is with the ones, the twos, or the threes.”
That is the separator. Not arm talent. Not recruiting ranking. Not even experience. It is who the team believes in when it matters.
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