Julian Lewis receives depressing update in Colorado Buffaloes football career

Ahead of the Colorado Buffaloes’ Week 4 matchup against the Wyoming Cowboys, the big question is whether or not CU head football coach Deion Sanders will give Ryan Staub another chance under center or go back to his planned starter since the day he transferred from the Liberty Flames, Kaidon Salter.

Julian Lewis is, as USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer refers to him, the “other” quarterback. Worse yet, Schrotenboer summed up Lewis’s limited action in a 31-7 Week 2 win over the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens as snaps he didn’t distinguish himself with.

“(Deion Sanders) basically has two choices: Stick with Staub, whose performance also could be blamed on dropped passes by receivers and lackluster blocking,” Schrotenboer wrote.

“Or go back to Kaidon Salter, the Liberty transfer who started the first two games, including the season-opening 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech. Salter hasn’t gotten much of a chance beyond that. He started the Delaware game and helped his team to a 10-0 lead on his only two series before halftime but then found himself benched in favor of Staub, a redshirt sophomore.

“The other quarterback is celebrated freshman Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis, who’s only played three series this season – all against Delaware – and didn’t distinguish himself.”

Lewis’s future in Boulder is one that many will tie directly to Coach Prime’s. His commitment was one that many felt kept Sanders at the University of Colorado Boulder after his sons and Travis Hunter left.

His present is murky. While he was always going to be brought along slowly, the fact that an unheralded two-year backup has supplanted him on the depth chart is not ideal for his image. For all we know, it could cost him NIL dollars.

Rival coaches will negatively recruit Coach Prime’s lack of snaps for Lewis. There’s an easy narrative – that he was “done wrong” by Sanders and given unfulfilled promises – to be exploited. It’s not true, but it’s a good PR look for Lewis and his next home if he hits the Transfer Portal.

There’s a non-zero chance of that happening at this rate, especially if Staub sticks as the starter.