Julian Lewis has not been having a very good time waiting in line to suit up for Colorado. The Carrollton High School prospect has been a pretty lucrative catch for a swirl of schools unless and until he signed up as a Trojan. But Deion Sanders didn’t give up. He brought him to Colorado with a strategic offer carrying a flying promise to fill the huge shoes of Shedeur Sanders as the latter left for the pros.
The No. 36 overall prospect in the 2025 class is among a list of talented commits at Colorado. OL Chauncey Gooden, Edge London Merritt, OT Carde Smith, and WRs Quanell Farrakhan Jr. and Adrian Wilson. Gone are the days of Jimmy Horn Jr., Travis Hunter, and Will Sheppard. It helps the new joinees that the Buffs improved from 1-11 in 2023 to 9-4 in 2024.
Lewis, on his part, is looking forward to the challenge. When he was introduced to the program, he knew what to say. “My name is Julian Lewis, from Carrolton, Georgia. Yeah, I’m just ready to work.” And knowing Coach Prime, this gig will take some work, but at the end of it all, there’d be brighter lights. However, the No. 6 QB in his class hasn’t had the best of times in recent weeks. His 5-star status was demoted to 4-star. Of course, that could be a factor of Lewis rejecting the QB-whisperer in Lincoln Riley. And now, we have another strange development.
Heading into a strong off-season, projections are on about who could be the top 10 quarterbacks for the coming year just to give fans an idea of who to bet a dime on and who to sleep on and protect their hearts from. Recently, ON3 released their quality picks. We have Bryce Underwood as the No. 1 for obvious reasons. We have Keelon Russel, Deuce Knight, Kamario Taylor, Alex Manske, and others. But Julian Lewis was seen nowhere in the coveted list.
There have been different debates swirling over the lore, with some suggesting he is not good enough at his craft to get highlighted in the list, while some say it’s the Buffs that actually hold him off from the spotlight. But if you look at his history, it talks volumes.
In his sophomore season, Lewis capped off the season with 3,094 passing yards and 48 touchdowns. He only threw two interceptions in 13 games. The Carrollton offense averaged 39.0 points per game. He also threw for over 4,000 yards and 48 TDs as a freshman a season ago. He would be a top 2026 recruit if he had not reclassified his rank in 2025.
This is not the only heartbreak Lewis has faced in recent memory. It is becoming a loop now. It’s evident that Lewis is not the best, but come on, he is one of the best. Lewis stands out in the entire nation due to his huge elite pair of arms, insane leg mobility, and pinpoint accuracy. But the national media doesn’t seem to pay heed. In the previous ON3 ranking of every 5-star prospect in the class of 2024, JuJu couldn’t make it to the best of 32.
It’s concerning that he continues to face rejection from media pundits despite being a highly regarded five-star prospect (now four-star) with a wealth of talent. Is Coach Prime’s bad effect playing the card here?
Coach Prime’s media dispute might play a factor in Julian Lewis’ low rank
When you hear the name Coach Prime, it always comes with an extreme. There is nothing mediocre about the $45 million head coach of the Buffs. He either comes as the over-the-top babyface or just a cracky villain in the glass. Nothing in between makes sense. Deion Sanders’ brand has been positively impacting a horde of college football athletes. The players struggle to get attention either in the NFL or in school and tend to hit Colorado just to get under the watchful eyes of Sanders and share a bit of his high-flying publicity.
Again, when we say publicity, it comes in two ways. However, the situation is far from ideal. Deion Sanders has been on a long-standing ride with the media. From accusing him of nepotism to sneak-sliding into his drawing affairs, the media often rubs the coveted college football coach the wrong way.
Does it affect the growth of JuJu in terms of national prominence in any way? Well. It’s neither evident nor a far-fetched idea. Who knows if he would have stuck with USC? ON3, the certified Deion Sanders hater, might consider him as their go-to face in 2025.
The post Back-to-Back Heartbreaks for Julian Lewis As Freshman QB Sees No Respite After Coach Prime’s Blunder appeared first on EssentiallySports.