The Colorado quarterback room is getting a major makeover from two coaches who couldn’t be more different in how they do the job, and that pairing is part of what has the Buffaloes feeling good about redshirt freshman Julian Lewis heading toward the 2026 season.
AJ Smith brings the tech side. Hajj-Malik Williams brings the former-player perspective. Together, they’ve given Colorado a setup that’s been built to develop Lewis and the rest of the quarterbacks in ways that go well beyond a normal meeting room.
Smith has leaned hard into innovation, and Deion Sanders says that approach fits right in with the personalities in the program.
“Well, AJ is like a guy that can play the game, and that's also a nerd,” said Sanders in his Monday presser. “And we like that.
I mean, because we have some of those types of mentalities on the team. Some guys that really go that extra mile and want it all, and he's there for them.”
A big part of Smith’s work centers on analytics through Modern Football Technology. He said on Aug. 24 that the system helps Colorado break down quarterback play in a practical way, especially in a short spring competition.
“We’re using state-of-the-art quarterback analytic tools through Modern Football. . . ” said Smith in his presser on Aug. 24. “I created that because in spring football, you have four weeks to name a starter with three quarterbacks…so we look at release times, we look at spots on the field and that’s been a big part of something I’ve brought here.”
Smith also pointed to the virtual reality training software he created while he was a graduate assistant at SMU. He said the tool has helped Colorado and has also been sold to other programs.
“Another thing is VAR…and I was the innovator of that,” Smith said. “There are hundreds of teams that use this that I’ve sold this software to…I think the biggest thing it does, and there are so many different things it can do, but for our backups, it’s their way of putting on the headset and seeing the ones offense…and, ‘I didn’t get to take that rep in practice, but now I’m putting the headset on, and I’m getting the ones rep.”
The software can also be sped up or slowed down so quarterbacks can process the game at different tempos.
“Jayden Daniels made this a big deal, and this is something we use in our software too,” Smith said. “Every play, they’re looking at it, and we’ll say, ‘Speed it up to 1.2,’ which is flying, it’s almost like 2x [speed].
[We ask,] ‘Okay, did you go through your progression that fast? Alright, put it back down to one.’
[They respond,] ‘This is slow.’ We just made real life slow.”
Williams, meanwhile, has made his mark by being close enough to the players to speak their language. Sanders said that matters, especially because Williams was only recently on the field himself.
He finished his playing career with the Ottawa Redblacks of the CFL after six college seasons split between Campbell and UNLV.
“Well, Hajj is truly dynamic,” Sanders said on Monday. “He's quarterbacking this offense.
I mean, who better to have to speak into the lives of these young men? And he's not that far removed from the game that they could understand him, and he has a maturity to him that he can relate to the players.
But he's also going to gain respect as a coach, which he has. I love the staff over there, but what he brings to the table is mental and physical toughness.”
Sanders also said Williams is the kind of coach who can steady a player after a rough moment from the staff.
“And when Coach Marion gets on their butt, or I get on their butt, and they're having a pity party, he knows how to go lift them back up because he's been in that place,” Sanders said. “He's been there and done that.
I love what this guy's all about. We just got finished with a walk, having a tremendous conversation as well.”
For Colorado, that combination has already changed the feel of the quarterback room. With Smith pushing the room forward through technology and Williams connecting through lived experience, the Buffaloes have built a staff around Lewis that looks unlike the usual setup.
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