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Deion Sanders Makes Announcement About 5-Star Julian Lewis Before Colorado's Bowl Game

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kevin Borba | Last updated Dec 19, 2024 4:22 PM ET

Unlike last season, where they started strong and plummeted to a 4-8 record, Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes had a phenomenal regular season in 2024.

His squad made a late push for the Big 12 title and College Football Playoff, and a major the team posted a 9-3 record was star quarterback Shedeur Sanders. The son of Deion Sanders was named both the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and the winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, as well as being top 10 in the Heisman Trophy voting.

While Shedeur Sanders established himself as a program legend, the Buffs did have to look for a replacement to take over for the projected first-round pick, who is NFL-bound after the season. One exciting option as a replacement is 2025 five-star recruit Julian Lewis.

Following the conclusion of his high school career, which saw him and his No. 4 Carrollton squad fall 38-24 to No. 25 Grayson in the Georgia 6A state title on Wednesday, Lewis is set to join Colorado as an early enrollee.

He will be thrust right into the fire when he arrives, as Deion Sanders told Romi Bean of CBS Colorado that the plan is to have Lewis operate as the scout-team quarterback ahead of Colorado's Alamo Bowl game. A move that Deion Sanders thinks will help Lewis get better, and also give him a chance to learn from Shedeur Sanders.

"Tremendous," Sanders said. "Not only that, we gonna put his but on the scout team and let him run against the ones. So we gon see if you flinch. We gon see what you got."

Going up against Colorado's defense could be quite the challenge for the No. 2 overall player in ESPN's recruiting rankings. On top of going up against a defense that totaled 37 sacks on the year, he will also be throwing against a secondary headlined by Heisman Trophy winner, Travis Hunter.

It will certainly give Lewis a nice welcome-to-college moment, while also giving him a chance to get a leg up on Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, who committed to Colorado on Wednesday. Both Lewis and the 2023 Conference USA MVP are expected to compete for the starting role in Boulder in a quarterback battle that will be one of the most intriguing in the country.

However, before Colorado looks ahead to the battle, they are looking to secure win No. 10 against the No. 17 BYU Cougars on Dec. 28 in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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