It’s not often that true freshmen are hand-picked by head coaches to represent their teams at media day — especially those who aren’t guaranteed a starting job.
Colorado’s Julian “JuJu” Lewis isn’t the typical true freshman, however, and there’s no question that head coach Deion Sanders is a firm believer that Lewis’ future is bright.
“JuJu is coming on round the mountain when he comes, and I love him,” Sanders said at Big 12 Conference media day in Frisco, Texas, last week. “I love what he brings to the table. I don’t know how (the QB competition) is gonna play out, as long as it plays out. We can’t lose either way with either of those two.”
A 17-year-old who graduated from Carrollton (Ga.) High School a year early, Lewis should be preparing for his senior year with the Trojans. Instead, he’s battling with fifth-year senior Kaidon Salter for the starting job with the Buffaloes.
Lewis and Salter are both competing to take the reins of the CU offense from Shedeur Sanders, the 2024 Big 12 offensive player of the year who shattered numerous school records before heading off to the NFL.
Coach Prime trusts and believes in Lewis and Salter enough that he sent both to Frisco.
“It’s crazy that I’m here,” Lewis , who will turn 18 on Sept. 21, old BuffZone at media day. “It’s a blessing. I’m definitely looking at the bright side of the whole situation. It’s been a long day, but definitely happy to talk to everybody.”
Salter, 22, has a wealth of experience under his belt after four seasons at Liberty, the last two as the Flames’ full-time starter.
Lewis, however, comes in as a five-star recruit rated as one of the top quarterbacks in the 2025 class. And, he carries the confidence of a young man who dominated his three years of high school ball.
“JuJu, he’s a very competitive freshman that’s coming in with so much confidence,” Salter said. “He’s a former five-star quarterback, so he has no choice but to come in and prove to all of collegiate football why he was ranked so high and everything that he’s accomplished in high school. But him coming to practice each and every day, he’s competing, he’s working, he’s learning fast.”
For Lewis, this is his first real competition for a starting job since his freshman year at Carrollton.
“It was an older guy; he sat the bench before and I had to come in and do what I had to do,” Lewis said. “It was not personal between that guy, either. It’s just the name of the game. It’s business at the end of the day.”
Lewis handled business as a freshman, throwing for 4,118 yards and 48 touchdowns in leading Carrollton to the 7A state title game. In three years of prep football, Lewis completed 69.1% of his passes for 11,010 yards and 144 touchdowns, with only 21 interceptions. He led Carrollton to a 39-4 record.
Enrolling at CU in January, Lewis has continued to handle business, putting his head down and going to work.
“I feel like work is going to be work regardless,” he said. “You’ve got to work. If I win the job or lose the job, I’m going to work the same. It’s just how it has to go.”
The work is more intense than it was at Carrollton, however. Lewis said the workouts under strength and conditioning coach Andreu Swasey are “wild,” and there’s very little time off.
“I feel like you’ve got to dedicate more time into it, of course,” he said. “I’m all online classes, so I have full days to myself sometimes and really, if you’re trying to learn plays and do stuff like that, there’s really no time for yourself. You need to be in the building as much as possible, just trying to get in as much extra time. In high school, we’re writing stuff down and if I study for 10 minutes a day, I’m good. College is sophisticated.”
College also brings high expectations for Lewis, as he comes with that five-star tag and already in the media spotlight. Those expectations haven’t flustered him, though.
“The expectations have been there my whole life, so it’s nothing new to me,” he said. “I can’t say I’m stressed out or nervous or anything like that. It’s just at the end of the day, we’re playing the game that five-year-olds play, and we played since we were five. We get paid a lot more now and have to spend a lot more time doing it, but it’s definitely a blessing.”
How much Lewis plays this year remains to be seen, but with preseason camp around the corner (the Buffs report July 27), he can’t wait to continue his competition with Salter.
“That’s the name of the game,” he said of competing. “That’s what I came here for is that competition, and the fact that Coach Prime is letting me compete, that’s all I can ask for.”
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