The Colorado Buffaloes had their potential golden ticket.
When head coach Deion Sanders landed five-star quarterback recruit Julian Lewis, it was the type of recruiting win that suggested this program could truly rise to another level.
Yes, Colorado had put together a great offense with Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter and company — but those were guys who had gone to Jackson State to be with Coach Prime, then followed him to Boulder. Yes, Deion had landed Hunter in a shocking flip for the No. 1 recruit in the country, so the proof of concept was there, but still — that’s one instance.
Getting Lewis felt like the chance to continue the program’s rise to prominence, a chance for the next four years worth of players to bring some of the hype that Shedeur and Hunter did.
Instead, Lewis hasn’t lived up to his own hype in Colorado. Soon enough, his story there might be over.
Julian Lewis Split With Colorado Looming
Lewis remains at Colorado, but he lost his starting job earlier this month.
The Buffs have tried Isaac Wilson as their starting quarterback. He’s the younger brother of NFL QB Zach Wilson, but he doesn’t have the same talent level as his older bro, who was a college football monster at BYU.
The fact that Colorado finally threw up its hands and decided to try something different than Lewis seems to be writing on the wall.
In an article published Monday by The Athletic’s Antonio Morales, that college football writer agreed.
“Lewis was supposed to be the future of the program when he signed with the Buffaloes as a top-100 prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle, but he didn’t play well this year and was benched for Isaac Wilson,” Morales wrote.
Colorado had already had trouble last season figuring out how Lewis fit into a multi-pronged quarterback question that included a talented transfer, Kaidon Salter. While the Buffs knew heading into this year that QB1 belonged to Lewis, that hasn’t actually helped him reach his ceiling.
Julian Lewis Transfer Potential
In the aforementioned article by Morales, he actually compared him to Michigan QB Bryce Underwood, the top recruit in Lewis’ class and a guy who also is probably going to be looking for a new home this offseason.
Both will have the same dilemma: Did teams mis-judge their talent, or would they do better in a new situation?
Lewis will likely have to take a shot on a slightly smaller program and prove himself there before potentially pursuing one move back up the ladder.
If both he and Underwood fail to pan out, it’ll be quite a disappointing outcome for the Class of 2025 QB recruits.
Colorado Split Looms Between Deion Sanders, Julian Lewis