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Ex-NFL Player Issues Blunt Julian Lewis Advice to Deion Sanders Amid Colorado QB Battle

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jeremy Beren | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 1:24 PM ET

Gerald “Smoke” Dixon understands what it takes for elite football programs to win in the NCAA, and in the NFL as well. A four-year starter at Alabama between 1999 and 2002, Dixon helped the Crimson Tide win an SEC Championship as a freshman, and he later put his expertise to good use as a pro scout for the Buffalo Bills between 2014 and 2020.

Dixon was part of a franchise overhaul that helped turn the Bills into annual Super Bowl contenders -- and now, he has some advice for Deion Sanders, as Coach Prime gets to work rebuilding the Colorado Buffaloes.

Colorado lost offensive stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders to the NFL after a surprising 9-4 season in 2024. Adequately replacing Sanders at quarterback, the sport's most important position, is of paramount importance to Prime -- who has been overseeing a QB1 battle between Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and blue-chip prospect Julian Lewis.

Colorado’s QB room is too talented to ride the bench

• Ju Ju is ahead of schedule
• Kaidon Salter can’t take hits all year

2-QB system brewing for @DeionSanders? pic.twitter.com/Kw4fuXRwKN
— Smoke Dixon (@CoachGVDixon) June 3, 2025

On the latest episode of the "Ultimate College Football Show" on 24/7 Sports, Dixon and co-host Bud Elliott predicted that Sanders would embrace a two-quarterback system in Boulder this season. But that prediction comes with a warning for Coach Prime as he takes Colorado into a new era.

"You can't leave a four-star, talented player like JuJu Lewis on the sideline all season, and you can't play Kaidon all year, just because I think he's gonna get banged up," Dixon said. "When you have a young guy like JuJu, if you keep him on the sideline for a long time, I only know one place where he's going to end up: the transfer portal."

Deion Sanders has challenged his offensive line to improve in 2025 after his son Shedeur took 42 sacks a season ago. Protecting the quarterback -- whether it is Lewis, Salter or both of them -- might prove to be more important than Coach Prime's intent to run a two-quarterback system this fall.

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

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