FRISCO, Texas – From the time JuJu Lewis began playing quarterback, at 7 years old, he was used to being on the field and making an impact with his ability.
Last year, as a true freshman at Colorado, Lewis did something he had never experienced before: Watch from the bench.
Lewis, now a redshirt freshman, described last year as “humbling” and “uncomfortable,” but as he prepares for this season, he’s looking forward to getting back in his comfort zone. Although battling with Utah transfer Isaac Wilson for the starting job, Lewis is CU’s projected starter for the 2026 campaign, which kicks off Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech.
“I think just my understanding of college football, a lot more comfortable,” Lewis said Tuesday at Big 12 media day, as one of six players representing the Buffs. “I feel like when I got in last year I wasn’t very nervous or anything like that. I think God put me in this position for a reason, and I think just every time I get the opportunity to show why I’m here, I’m going to do that.”
A five-star recruit in the 2025 class, Lewis was a full-time starter all three of his seasons at Carrollton (Georgia) High School. He threw for 11,010 yards, 144 touchdowns and 21 interceptions, leading his team to two state title games.
Lewis was so good as a prep player that he graduated high school 1 1/2 years early. Originally a 2026 recruit, he graduated in December of his junior year and enrolled at CU in January of 2025.
As a 17-year-old, Lewis battled fifth-year senior Kaidon Salter for the starting job at CU last year, with Salter winning the job.
Lewis played briefly in game two against Delaware on Sept. 6 and didn’t see the field again until game nine against Arizona on Nov. 1. Eventually, Salter was benched and Lewis started two games in November. For the season, he completed 55.3% of his passes for 589 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.
“It was definitely an experience, for sure,” Lewis said. “I think it was good. It was humbling, for sure. Just having to sit around and watch football games you feel like you can make an impact in was probably the worst part, just watching; watch your team lose from the sideline didn’t feel right.”
CU finished 3-9, including 1-8 in the Big 12, and Lewis is aiming to change that.
“The season was just unsuccessful,” he said. “I mean, it wasn’t our goal, of course. I didn’t play much going into the beginning of the season. I had my opportunity to play and I still didn’t come out victorious, so I wouldn’t call them successful games or anything like that. So just coming into this season ready to win.
“I don’t think it felt right for any of us losing games, of course, but it felt even worse feeling like I could help the team and not doing that, just not playing or anything like that. So, just the opportunity to start off this season, I mean, itap nothing but winning on my mind.”
To win, CU will look to Lewis to take another step or two in his development. As a young player last year, there was an adjustment period to the college game, but now he’s got a year under his belt.
“I think my understanding of college football (is different),” he said. “I think college football is a crazy world now, just all the changes and all the moving around and stuff like watching the transfer portal, watching the coaches change. But college football, you’ve got to adapt and just be ready for whatever comes your way.”
For Lewis, that includes learning a new offense this season. Last year’s offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, is no longer with the Buffs, who followed up by hiring Brennan Marion, the architect of the Go-Go offense.
“I think itap challenging,” Lewis said of learning a new offense again. “It was kind of hard for me getting the old playbook I just put in with coach Shurmur and learning this new Go-Go, but coach Marion does a great job teaching his offense. I think coach Marion’s a great guy, the best guy we could have brought in for the job because he’s unapologetically him and he kind of reminds me of our head coach (Deion Sanders), if anything.
“I have so much respect for coach Marion bringing in his offense and just knowing itap going to work, and it has no choice but to work.”
The offense relies on a strong run game and deep passes down the field. Lewis said Marion calls the quarterbacks the “point guards” of the offense.
“Our job is to facilitate, get our athletes the ball, make the right decisions with the ball, don’t turn it over,” Lewis said. “I think pretty basic quarterback rules.”
In addition to learning a new offense, the lean, 6-foot-1 Lewis said he’s working on his personal and physical growth.
“Just growing, trying to get bigger, stronger, faster, of course,” he said. “I mean, I’m a small quarterback. I think everybody kind of knows that, so just trying to get bigger.”
Sanders has seen growth in Lewis and said plenty of people in the building are pushing Lewis to keep growing.
“He’s grown tremendously. I don’t think he has a choice with Brennan,” Sanders said. “I don’t think he has a choice. I’m not the only one pushing him; teammates are pushing him, he’s pushing himself.
“I think he’s grown tremendously and he’s going to have to consistently grow because we have some men on the team that has an expectation of not only winning, we have some receivers that has an expectation on continuing to do what they’ve done before they got here. They don’t want to [regress] and we need someone to meet them at the crossroad. So, he has to come up and he has to do it and I think he can. I believe he can.”
Lewis said he believes he could have made an impact on the 2025 Buffs had he been the full-time starter.
“I think I would have done what was needed to be done,” he said. “I’m always going to bet on myself, which is just a confidence thing.”
The confidence is still there, and so is the opportunity to win the job and return to a familiar role of playing week in and week out and leading his team.
“Thatap what I’m used to,” he said. “It was just a new experience last year, like not having to do that, but I mean my whole life’s been being a leader. I’ve been a quarterback since I was 7, so itap what it is.”
