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  • Keeler: CU Buffs QB Julian Lewis brought Shedeur Sanders’ juice, deep ball back to Coach Prime’s attack

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    MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — If Saturday in Morgantown was an audition, Julian Lewis passed.

    And passed.

    And passed.

    Ju Ju looked past open receivers. He looked ready to turtle whenever West Virginia sent the house. But he also looked like Shedeur Sanders out there at times, didn’t he?

    Especially when dropping ball after ball in the bucket for CU wide receiver Omarion Miller.

    The Buffs dropped their third game in a row at Milan Puskar Stadium, falling 29-22 against the Mountaineers and slipping to 3-7 on a lost season.

    Yet it was the most fun the Buffs have been in what, a month? For the first time in what feels like forever, we saw snippets of last fall’s passing game. We saw the deep ball and the vertical passing game that scared the Big 12 half to death.

    2024: Shedeur to Travis Hunter.

    2025: Ju Ju to Omarion.

    Sanders said earlier this week that his decision to start Lewis, a true freshman, at quarterback was guided by “common sense.”

    Hindsight is 20/20, especially when a year goes off the rails. But what took so long?

    Coach Prime should’ve listened to his common sense sooner.

    While senior Kaidon Salter offered zero juice and minimal downfield threat at QB1, Lewis walked into coal country and looked the part. The Mountaineers blitzed from the left. They blitzed from the right. At one point, they even pulled out a piece of Ju Ju’s hair. Kid hung tough: 22 completions on 35 attempts for 299 yards and two touchdowns.

    Lewis to Miler was the combo CU has been waiting for all year. The chemistry was undeniable. The combo was almost unguardable: Miller finished with six catches for 131 receiving yards and a score.

    Ju Ju was at his strongest rolling and throwing to his left, hitting Miller for a 43-yard rainbow early, then Sincere Brown (19 yards) and Joseph Williams (13 yards) on CU’s second drive of the second quarter.

    And yes, some context applies here, too. West Virginia’s defense going into the weekend ranked last in the Big 12 in opponent passer rating (160.25) and 14th in the league in passing yards allowed per game (270.8). It was not unlike debuting a rookie hitter against the 2025 Rockies at Coors Field — a soft landing, a chance to build numbers and confidence.

    Still, you could see that confidence growing in real time. On the CU drive that ended the third quarter and opened the fourth, the freshman faced second-and-7 from the West Virginia 20. He scanned quickly, feeling the pocket constricting to his left and his right. It was the kind of bang-bang play that would’ve been a sure-fire sack earlier in the game, never mind earlier in the season. Lewis stepped up in the pocket and took off for a 3-yard gain, giving CU a third-and-4 at the home 17. CU eventually got a 35-yard field goal from Alejandro Mata to pull the Buffs to within 22-19 with 14:51 left to play in the tilt.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: CU Buffs coach Deion Sanders hasn’t hesitated to play freshmen. So why is he hesitating to play 5-star QB Julian Lewis?

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    BOULDER — There will be another Ju Ju.

    Lots of them, actually. If we’ve learned anything about CU recruiting in the Deion Sanders Era, it’s that if Coach Prime wants someone — like, really, really, really wants them — he gets them.

    Left tackle Jordan Seaton? Got him.

    Cornerback Cormani McClain? Got him. (Best not look at the young man’s Florida Gators numbers right now if you’re a Buffs fan. Seriously. Don’t.)

    Quarterback Julian Lewis? Got him, too.

    Keeping him? Well …

    At 2-4, 0-3 in Big 12 play, CU football is staring at a crisis/inflection point right now. No. 22 Iowa State (5-1) rolls into town for a Saturday matinee, and a trip to Utah (4-1), which is back to running the ball at will again, looms after that.

    Meanwhile, Coach Prime’s health concerns are mounting. And the Buffs have played three QBs in six games because, as the old adage goes, they don’t really have one. Not one who can sling it consistently at a Big 12 level, at any rate.

    After Kaidon Salter just tossed three interceptions at TCU, Ju Ju is the people’s choice again.

    Build for the future!

    The season’s already lost!

    What’s the difference between 4-8 and 2-10?

    If we don’t play Ju Ju this fall, we’ll lose him to the transfer portal! And that would be a tragedy!

    Would it, though?

    I mean, in terms of Lewis’ value in the open market, you’re absolutely right. Big Ten and SEC football programs, even bad ones, have more money right now than they know what to do with. The Buffs, as with many of their Big 12 peers, have to pick and choose their bidding wars.

    Although CU also, at the moment, has 24 offers out to quarterbacks in the Class of ’26, according to the 247Sports database. They’ve got five out to signal-callers in the Class of ’27, and four in the Class of ’28.

    Recruiting, at its core, is about salesmanship. Nobody sells — themselves, their school, a product, the future — the way Coach Prime sells. Charmers are charmers for life.

    Ask yourself this, too: If Lewis is that hot, why hasn’t he beaten out the two guys who’ve been driving you crazy?

    You’ve watched Salter for five games. You’ve watched backup Ryan Staub for two.

    As Coach Prime points out, he sees what you saw.

    Yet when asked about Ju Ju’s progress on Tuesday, Sanders said this, and bluntly:

    “He’s coming around the mountain when he comes.”

    Will he be driving six white horses?

    We kid, we kid. But the hesitation, given precedent, is more than curious, isn’t it?

    After all, Coach Prime has made a point of playing freshmen who earned his trust early. Seaton. Micah Welch. Omarion Miller. Dre’Lon Miller.

    Lewis, though?

    Not so much. Not yet, anyway.

    “I mean, he’s young, and you can’t throw everything at him,” Sanders explained after playing Lewis for two rocky series vs. Delaware last month. “So you don’t want to do that. You don’t want him to feel like he failed.

    “So you’ve got to proceed with — some guys want you to just throw him in there, and I’m too protective. I mean, I love the kid and I want the kid to be successful, so we’re very protective on what we do with him and what we can do with him and really how we call things with him. We want him to be in a situation to excel.”

    Again, he sees what you see. He sees a young man who only turned 18 two-and-a-half weeks ago. And it doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see a QB who isn’t quite ready yet.

    Although …

    “I’ve never sat on the bench and said, ‘Whoa, I learned a lot today.’”

    That quote also came from Sanders, when he was a guest on the Kelce Brothers’ “New Heights” podcast a fortnight ago. He’d said that while explaining why son Shedeur didn’t want to be drafted by Baltimore and become All-Pro QB Lamar Jackson’s understudy

    “Who learns sitting on the bench?” Coach Prime continued. “Who does that?”

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Yo, CU Buffs! Pat Shurmur without Shedeur Sanders was painful to watch

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    BOULDER — Is that Byron Leftwich warming up on the sideline?

    Ralphie, you didn’t miss much. Take away Shedeur Sanders from a Pat Shurmur offense, and you’re left with a CU attack that, at times, looked like a pencil with no lead.

    Friday night’s opener against Georgia Tech had a Baylor 2024 feel. Minus the Baylor ending. After two CU Hail Marys fell incomplete, the Yellow Jackets escaped with a 27-20 win inside a packed Folsom Field.

    New Buffs starting quarterback Kaidon Salter will take some flak, but this wasn’t all his burden. No. 3 was as advertised, at least, in that he isn’t Shedeur. Down 20-13 with 9:23 left in the tilt, the Buffs’ transfer QB stepped up in the pocket to elude pressure (which was good), spotted a wide-open Simeon Price near the front right pylon (also good) … and overthrew him by a yard-and-a-half.

    Yet he can do this, too. As the pocket collapsed again, forcing another step-up, Salter spotted a lane, tucked the rock, and pinballed his way 7 yards into the end zone to pull the hosts to within an extra point.

    As Buffs QB debuts go, No. 3’s was fine, if rough around the edges. Salter sometimes sprinted into danger as often as he ran away from it. Stretching out a play from east to west may buy time against Conference USA defenses. The ones he’s going to see in the Big 12 close too quickly. Pick a lane and get north.

    And to the social media peanut gallery calling for 5-star super freshman Julian Lewis, ask yourself this: How many times did Salter have to create an escape route all by himself?

    Lewis can move, sure. Not like that. Even if “Ju Ju” has taken steps forward this month, it remains to be seen whether this offensive line’s ready to keep him upright for 60 minutes. Delaware awaits on Sept. 6. If we haven’t seen Lewis on the field by Week 3, fire up the flares.

    At the moment, the Buffs have bigger problems. Unfortunately, CU’s run defense was less what was advertised and more what was feared. The elephant in the room still struggles to stop anybody between the hashmarks.

    Yes, the Buffs tightened up late, and thank goodness. Yes, Tech is the Waffle House version of Iowa, a Southern sledgehammer. Yet Georgia Tech also converted on third-and-3-or-less five times in the first three quarters. They converted four of those on the ground, and the other one was a willing surrender on a spiked Haynes King pass to stop the clock.

    If Tech wasn’t busy Nebrasking the heck outta that first half with three consecutive turnovers, the Buffs would’ve been hurting deep.

    The Jackets were outrushing CU two minutes into the second quarter by a count of 112-33. Tech was getting 6.3 yards per pop on its first 18 carries.

    And yet … the hosts somehow still led 7-3, spitting in the face of the football gods and the pop-up showers.

    In hindsight, the Buffs couldn’t have scripted the first five minutes any better, could they? Tech’s Malik Rutherford got loose for a 13-yard gain on the first play of the evening. On the second, King butterfingered the ball to CU linebacker Martavious French at the Buffs’ 38. Five plays and three Micah Welch runs later, Salter found DeKalon Taylor in the end zone for an 8-yard score and a 6-0 CU lead.

    Funny thing? Those two plays were pretty much a harbinger for the rest of the Jackets’ first half. The Ramblin’ Wreck alternated between gashing the Buffs on the ground or putting the ball on the turf.

    Tech drove past midfield on five of its first six cracks on offense. Tries No. 2 and 3 ended on a fumble recovery by French at the Buffs’ 48 and a pick by D.J. McKinney at the CU 34, respectively. The Jackets turned their last three possessions into 13 points, with kicker Aidan Birr’s 32-yard field goal putting the visitors up 13-10 as the dying seconds of the second quarter expired.

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    Sean Keeler

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