Last August, then-head coach Mel Tucker asked junior quarterback Sam Noyer to move to the safety position, which Noyer obliged. After the season ended, Noyer's name appeared in December within the transfer portal but in April of 2020, Brian Howell of the Boulder Daily Camera reported that Noyer withdrew his name from the portal and would return to CU as a senior quarterback.

Noyer, who joined reporters via Zoom on Thursday afternoon, seemed pleased to rejoin the Buffs' QBs room — which features (on scholarship) true freshman Brendon Lewis and junior Tyler Lytle.

Noyer also hinted that he's far from let himself become rusty, even with his position change last year.

“I maintained (a) throwing (regimen) all of last year," he said. "At the end of the day, it was my decision and I wanted to do it. I wanted to do whatever I could to help out the team and ultimately, I think that even though I didn’t see the minutes I really wanted to, it really benefitted (me) because I got to learn different techniques and all the little small details about defenses. But I’m excited to be back playing quarterback and being on the offensive side in general is a good feeling. It’s where I feel at home.”

Ultimately, at first, Noyer admitted he was pretty set on finding a new collegiate home for his final year of eligibility. But with Darrin Chiaverini tasked by first-year head coach Karl Dorrell to call plays on offense once more — a system in which Noyer had experience in the past — that proved to be helpful in him deciding to come back to CU.

Additionally, Noyer was swayed into returning by Danny Langsdorf, whom Noyer has known since the high school recruiting trail.

"The process of the transfer portal and everything, I had some other schools lined up and to be honest, I really didn't think I would come back to Colorado," he said. "Obviously, you see coach Tucker leave — that’s on the national news — so I saw that at the same time as the whole team did."

"Having a relationship with coach Chiaverini and coach Langsdorf, I think that ultimately as the deciding doctor for me and just knowing that I would come back to the same offense that I learned for my first two years at Colorado. That put my mind at ease with making the decision.”

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In getting to practice with Colorado's safeties beginning in fall camp and as the season progressed, combined with seeing actual game reps in the defensive backfield left Noyer with the impression that he gained valuable information that he can translate to his benefit at the quarterback position moving forward.

“I think when I first moved (positions), I knew the basic coverages, like cover two and things like that, but as I went on, especially in coach (Tyson) Summers and coach Tucker’s defense — they have more of an NFL-styled defense — they were putting in new stuff every single week with different techniques," he said.

"So just learning the small techniques of things and not only about where I needed to be but knowing where the linebackers need to be and things like that. I definitely think it’s going to benefit me and I learned a lot from the past year."

With the status of when he and Colorado may play football next remaining unclear, Noyer looks to continue honing his craft, something he'll do with the guidance of Langsdorf over the next few months.

“I’ve known coach Langsdorf since my junior year of high school," Noyer said. "He’s an Oregon native and also worked with my oldest brother at Oregon, so I’ve had a pretty good relationship with him for a while. I think he’s made the entire transition for us quarterbacks — obviously, Tyler and I have been through four QB coaches since we’ve both been here — so he’s done a really good job and he’s made the transition for us, especially during these tough times, a lot easier."

"He’s done a good job with putting a little twist on coach Chev’s offense and so I think he’s bringing a lot of good knowledge from his past and he’s trained a lot of good quarterbacks over the years so it’s nice working with him.”