Coach Prime’s CU Buffs find QB of the future in 5-star Julian Lewis – Boulder Daily Camera

On November 22, 2024By Littum

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (left) gives a set of keys to Carrollton (Ga.) High School quarterback Julian Lewis during Lewis' visit to the Boulder, Colo., campus Sept. 21-23. June 2024. Sanders is a senior at CU, while Lewis, a five-star prospect in the 2025 class, could be the next star quarterback for the Buffs. (Photo courtesy of Julian Lewis) — Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (left) gives a set of keys to Carrollton (Ga.) High School quarterback Julian Lewis during Lewis’ visit to the Boulder, Colo., campus Sept. 21-23. June 2024. Sanders is a senior at CU, while Lewis, a five-star prospect in the 2025 class, could be the next star quarterback for the Buffs. (Photo courtesy of Julian Lewis)

Colorado has landed its potential quarterback of the future.

On Thursday, Julian “JuJu” Lewis, a five-star prospect from Carrollton (Ga.) High School, announced his verbal commitment to the Buffaloes and head coach Deion Sanders.

Lewis made his announcement live on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN. Earlier this week, Lewis was decommitted from USC.

By committing to CU, Lewis has a chance to take the reins of the offense from current Buffs star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who will graduate after this season.

“Obviously it was big for me just coming in after Shedeur, just seeing what he’s done to Colorado and what he’s turned it into,” Lewis said on the McAfee Show. “But it’s definitely a blessing to be put in this position when he’s coming after him and with his dad. I mean, I couldn’t beat that.”

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Lewis is rated by ESPN as a five-star prospect, ranking him as the second-best player in the 2025 class. Rivals.com has Lewis as a five-star and ranks him as the No. 6 overall in the class, while 247Sports has Lewis as a four-star and the No. 6-ranked quarterback in its composite rankings.

CU and its fans have been eager to land Lewis, putting on the full-court press in hopes he would pick the Buffs and fill Shedeur’s shoes. The Sink even named a burger after Lewis, calling it “JuJu’s Precision Pass Burger.”

Originally a class of 2026 recruit, Lewis decided in January to graduate high school early and reclassify to the 2025 class. He will actually graduate a year and a half early, as he told McAfee he plans to graduate from high school next month and enroll at CU in January to get a jump on competing for a starting position in 2025.

“Coach Prime has always said the best man is going to play, and that’s really what I wanted was to be able to come in and compete, start as a freshman,” he said. “I didn’t want to have fun sitting on the bench. So I wanted to get in a place where I can get a chance to play, so he’s letting me compete for that, and that was big for me.”

Lewis originally committed to USC on August 22, 2023 – prior to the start of his sophomore year of high school – and had been committed to the Trojans for nearly 15 months. Lewis has more than three dozen offers and has been heavily recruited by Georgia, Indiana, Auburn and more.

CU offered Lewis on Jan. 17, 2023, and he has visited campus several times. He took an official visit to CU in June and has been to Boulder other times on unofficial visits. Most recently, he was in Boulder for the Buffs’ 34-23 victory over Cincinnati on Oct. 26.

This season, Lewis has completed 77.8% of his passes for 2,842 yards, 40 touchdowns and just four interceptions. A three-year varsity starter, he has completed 69% of his career passes for 10,054 yards, 136 touchdowns and 18 interceptions – 12 of them during his freshman season.

Over the past three years, Carrollton is 36-3 with Lewis at quarterback, including 11-0 so far this year. Lewis and the Trojans have a second-round playoff game Friday night.

At CU, he gets a chance to learn from Coach Prime, a Hall of Fame cornerback and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur.

“I’m excited to learn under Coach Shurmur and Coach Prime,” Lewis said. “I talked about it the other day. I don’t think there’s a better person to learn (from within) how to read defenses and coverages than Coach Prime, Deion Sanders. Just trying to grow mentally is my big thing.”

Originally published: 21 November 2024 at 10:36 a.m. MST