With everyone looking down on Julian Lewis amid his early-season struggles, Colorado’s offensive coordinator Brennan Marion has offered a different perspective on the young QB’s growing pains under Deion Sanders. Coach Prime’s sees some similarities with Shedeur Sanders’ start in Boulder. However, unlike the current Cleveland QB, Lewis hasn’t received any grace from the fans.
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“There’s just a lot that goes into it, right?” Marion said during his media availability on October 14. “When Shedeur got here, for example. Let’s think about this, okay? He came from Jackson State. He’s lived with a head coach who wanted it a certain way every day, all those days. So he knew exactly what it was supposed to look like because he was getting yelled at by his dad every day, and that is how it’s supposed to look. Then he goes to Jackson State, and he builds himself up, and he’s a winner there, and then he comes here.”
“He struggled the first year a little bit, right? Then he turns it on, and he becomes one of the top quarterbacks in the country. Nobody’s giving JuJu that chance because what? We’ve got to win now or get out. So JuJu’s just not having a chance to be comfortable in his own, right? It’s like, right now, you better have it.”
Lewis has not had enough time to transition from being a high school QB after skipping a year of high school. Since his arrival, the expectations have been sky-high, but even a talented quarterback needs time to adapt. Last year, he was one of the three QBs Colorado tried.
Heading into the 2026 campaign, the Buffs announced him as their starter. However, it hasn’t gone as well as they’d have hoped. Lewis failed to deliver against Power Four opponents and was ultimately benched after a bad half against Baylor.
Shedeur Sanders’ start at Colorado was quite eventful. He threw for 510 yards and four touchdowns in Coach Prime’s first game coaching the Buffs. He followed it up with two impressive performances against Nebraska and Colorado State. However, the 2023 campaign also had a bad game against Oregon and six straight losses to end the season.
The offense had its bad days, but Colorado’s woes were due to the other side of the ball. But Shedeur improved his game in his final college season and took the Buffs to 9-4.
Compared to Shedeur, Julian Lewis is still a work in progress. Since he came straight out of high school, a grace period in his first few starts would have helped. That doesn’t mean that the QB shouldn’t be criticized. But patience is the last thing players get these days.
“We’re online, and everybody’s killing him, and these kids care about what people say to them online,” Marion added. “So they read that, they see that, and it affects their spirit. I didn’t grow up with online affecting me. I don’t give a d**n what y’all said, right? But if a kid reads that, that’s going to crumble his world up. So it doesn’t free him up. So for Ju, he’s just got to get off the internet. He’s got to continue to develop and work.”
While Marion’s comments make sense, a Colorado fan can turn around and ask if the coaching staff has given Lewis that grace. Should he have been benched against Baylor? It’s not like Isaac Wilson has made the starting spot his own since he was inserted against the Bears. Wilson threw some costly interceptions against Texas Tech.
Moreover, Coach Prime hasn’t offered much clarity on Lewis’ current trajectory at the program. He wasn’t the QB2 against the Red Raiders. Will we see him get some playing time if things don’t work out with Wilson against Utah?