When Sam Noyer arrived in Boulder in the early summer of 2016, Sefo Liufau was preparing for his final rodeo at Colorado.

When all was said and done, Liufau had passed for 2,171 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading the Buffs to their first bowl in nine years and best record since 2001.

Noyer's true freshman season in 2016 saw him take a redshirt, but he played a largely thankless role on the sidelines in helping signal signs and calls to Liufau and CU's offense.

Then, of course, from 2017-2019, he sat behind Steven Montez, seeing action at quarterback in a total of nine games during that span.

On Friday, Karl Dorrell announced that Noyer had earned the starting quarterback gig ahead of Colorado's season opener on Nov. 7 vs. UCLA.

After Dorrell broke the news in front of his teammates during Friday's practice, Noyer took a bit of time to soak it all in before getting back on track to focusing on the task at hand: the Bruins' impending trip to Folsom Field.

“First off, obviously I was excited and happy to hear that," Noyer said. "And also, my mindset shifts to UCLA now. We’ve been going in camp mode going against our 1s and now we’re getting into scout (teams). But now, my mind has shifted towards UCLA."

Colorado will transition more fully starting Monday to strict game preparation for UCLA and Noyer looks back on how his two predecessors handled themselves before games as he tries to find his own blueprint of preparation leading into his first start.

Not a bad idea, seeking out advice from the two leading passers in Colorado football history (Liufau ranks first all-time with 10,509 yards from 2013-2016; Montez from 2016-2019 finished his CU career right behind him with 10,479).

“I learned under two great quarterbacks — Sefo and Steven," he said. "I learned how they would go and prepare (during) game week and how they’d prepare on game day. I think that’s going to help me a lot, too, as I prepare for each opponent.”

In the case of Liufau and Montez, Noyer remains on friendly ground with both of them and he plans to utilize whatever knowledge or advice they are willing to give.

While Noyer played only a year with Liufau, they hail from the same general neck of the woods, with the latter growing up in Sammamish, a suburb of Seattle and the former being from the Portland suburb of Beaverton.

"I’ve been talking to Sefo over quarantine," Noyer said. "We’re both (Pacific) Northwest kids, and so he reached out to me when he heard the news I was coming back to Colorado and he was excited. I’ve been talking with him quite a bit."

Montez currently is with the Washington Football Team.

Noyer said he's had more contact recently with Liufau but that Montez remains a resource, as well.

"Same with Steven — I haven’t talked to him as much since we’ve got into camp, but before me and him were in contact a lot," Noyer said.

In the end, Noyer will need to serve as his own architect when it comes down to crafting the best method of preparation that's suitable to him before each game.

As he gets into the process of doing that, he looks forward to seeing how Liufau and Montez can help."Those are two great guys and now that I am the starter, I can pick their brains to learn and ask them about how they prepared," he said.

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