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Colorado Buffaloes Player Grades After Georgia Tech Loss: Kaidon Salter, DJ McKinney

Updated Aug. 31, 2025, 7:25 p.m. by Cory Pappas 1 min read
NFL News

The Colorado Buffaloes kicked off their 2025 season against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets .

Georgia Tech came into Folsom Field and spoiled the Buffaloes home opener by a final score of 27-20.

This was the first Week One loss for Colorado in the Deion Sanders era.

What were the Buffaloes player ratings? Buffaloes Player Grades for Georgia Tech Game PFF College Football Shows Max Chadwick and Dalton Wassermann graded the top Bufflaoes players in the opening game.

Here were their rankings.

Kaidon Salter , Quarterback: 78.8 Zach Atkins, Tight End: 73.3 DJ McKinney , Cornerback: 72.8 Anquin Barnes, Defensive Tackle: 71.4 Keaten Wade, Defensive End: 70.1 Amari McNeill, Defensive Tackle: 68.9 Kaidon Salter, Pat Shurmur Combination Max Chadwick and Dalton Wassermann spoke about quarterback Kaidon Salters first game with the Buffaloes and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur .

He (Salter) made some plays.

He missed a few throws also, especially on the move.

There were some times where it felt frustrating and thats kind of what you get with Kaidon Salter, Wasserman said.

I still think Pat Shurmur with Salter as his quarterback is trying to figure out what the wheelhouse is there with the playcalling.

Kaidon Salter went 17/28 passing for 159 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions against the Yellow Jackets.

He also had 13 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Salter is an experienced dual-threat quarterback that Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur will have to adjust calling plays for.

Chadwick was also not a fan of how Shurmur approached this game from a play calling standpoint.

I wasnt very impressed with Pat Shurmurs play calling after the first drive especially in this game and Kaidon Salter also missed some throws too, Chadwick said.

Just a really big missed opportunity for Colorado.

Colorados starting quarterback in 2023 and 2024 was Shedeur Sanders.

Sanders has a completely different skillset than Salter, who transferred to Colorado this offseason after playing the previous four season with the Liberty Flames.

MORE: Deion Sanders Wants NFL-Style BonusesWhy He Should Be New Voice of College Football MORE: What Deion Sanders Uniform Choice Reveals About Approach to Colorado Buffaloes Brand MORE: How Deion Sanders Turned Boulder Into One of College Footballs Elite Destinations MORE: Why Colorado's LaJohntay Wester Could Be NFL's Next Star Wide Receiver MORE: Colorado Buffaloes Make Statement With Stars Who Made NFL 53-Man Roster s A Mixed Bag for Buffaloes Defense Wasserman went on to talk about the Buffaloes defense, that for the most part did a decent job against quarterback Haynes King and the Yellow Jackets offense, holding them to 27 points.

However, the run game wore down the Buffaloes as the game went on.

When I look at this Colorado defense, I thought the defensive line, you saw some top five guys there...I thought the secondary was good, Wasserman said.

Their new linebackers had a problem in this game.

The Buffaloes biggest problem on defense was their run defense.

Georgia Tech came into the game with a game plan to run the ball all game long and it worked.

They rushed for 320 yards on 47 carries, averaging 6.8 per rush..

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