Colorado is heading toward the season opener with a clear focal point: Julian Lewis.
The redshirt freshman is projected to be the Buffs’ starter when they face Georgia Tech on Thursday, Sept. 3, and the timing gives him a real chance to seize the job in a meaningful non-conference test. Colorado, coming off a three-win 2025, needs a cleaner start this time around, and Lewis enters camp with the kind of opportunity young quarterbacks wait for.
He’s already back on the practice field and putting the ball where Colorado wants to see it. One recent touchdown throw drew attention as he continues working through the build-up to the opener.
Lewis signed with Colorado as part of its 2025 high school recruiting class. 247Sports tagged him as a four-star prospect and the No. 10 quarterback in that class. He eventually saw the field as a true freshman, though not as the starter right away.
Colorado opened 2025 with transfer quarterback Kaidon Salter in the top spot, but the position never settled cleanly. Salter had an uneven season, and the Buffs went through multiple quarterback changes along the way.
Lewis played in four games as a freshman and started two late-season contests against West Virginia and Arizona State. Across those appearances, he threw for 589 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
After that fourth game, Deion Sanders held him out of the final game to protect the redshirt year, preserving a season of eligibility for Lewis.
The bigger backdrop is a Colorado offense that never got rolling in 2025. The Buffs finished with just one FBS win and averaged 20.9 points per game, which ranked 116th out of 136 FBS teams.
This offseason, Colorado made a major change by bringing in former Sacramento State coach Brennan Marion as offensive coordinator. Marion spent one season at Sac State in 2025 and led the Hornets to a 7-5 record. His offense averaged 33.8 points per game, a sharp jump from the 3-9 mark Sac State posted the year before his arrival in 2024.
Marion is known for his go-go offense, an up-tempo system that puts the quarterback in the shotgun with two running backs behind him. It worked at Sacramento State, and Colorado is hoping it can carry over to Big 12 play.
If Lewis adapts quickly, there’s plenty of room for his stock to rise.
This season also marks the fourth year of the Deion Sanders era in Boulder. Colorado has become one of the most watched teams in the country under Coach Prime, though the results have been uneven. Sanders is 16-21 overall at Colorado so far, and the Buffs are looking for the next step to show up on the scoreboard.
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Deion Sanders Brings Another Off-Field Distraction To Colorado
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Colorado Still Missing A Key Transfer As Fall Camp Frustration Grows
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Christensens attorney said a Boulder judge is working on an order tied to the pending motion, but there is still no resolution. Christensen has pointed to similar recent cases in which players were granted injunctions, and the delay has clearly become a source of frustration as he waits for clarity and tries to keep pace with the rest of Colorados preseason preparations. [Read more 🡒]