Report: Julian Lewis to make first career start for Colorado against West Virginia

When the Colorado Buffaloes were at their lowest in the midst of a blowout loss against Arizona on Saturday, Julian Lewis checked in and gave fans a glimmer of hope for the future. The top-50 overall recruit was brought in to be the successor to Shedeur Sanders, but had been stashed on the bench all season long behind Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub, a sign that Deion Sanders and the coaching staff have wanted him to learn the game from the sidelines this season.

After his performance against Arizona, Lewis earned himself the starting job for next week’s game against West Virginia, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Colorado is currently expected to make a QB change and start freshman Julian Lewis vs. West Virginia this weekend, sources tell @CBSSports.

Was a Class of 2025 top-50 overall recruit. pic.twitter.com/YUn8NYAPG3

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) November 3, 2025

He came in for the second half against the Wildcats after Kaidon Salter played what should have been his final snap in a Buffs uniform and Ryan Staub threw two interceptions, and the freshman gave the sparsely populated crowd something to cheer for finally. He scrambled for a 15-yard gain on his third play of the game, and two plays later, connected deep down the left side with Omarion Miller for a 59-yard touchdown on what was the prettiest deep ball of the season for Colorado. He finished with 129 yards and a touchdown while completing nine of his 17 passes.

JULIAN LEWIS GETS HIS FIRST PASS TD FOR COLORADO 🎯@CUBuffsFootball pic.twitter.com/KCAKnZU3xS

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 2, 2025

After the game, every CU fan asked the same question. Why has this guy been on the bench for this long?

Lewis is young. Remember, he’s supposed to still be a senior in high school and just turned 18 years old a little over a month ago. There have been questions about whether he’s ready to take the next step at such a young age and if sitting him for a year is the right decision, but he showed on Saturday that his talent is too good to keep locked up any longer.

Looking around the country, there are plenty of young, talented quarterbacks who were thrown into the fire right away. Julian Sayin, Malik Washington, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and Bryce Underwood are all true freshmen who have been given the keys to their respective offenses. Sayin is firmly in the Heisman Trophy race while the other three have had plenty of good moments along with the necessary growing pains that come with playing a young talent. Those coaches haven’t been scared to play the young bucks, but Sanders has clearly been against it.

The Salter experiment was fine for a few games, but it was clear early that he wasn’t capable of rising to the occasion against the better opponents on the schedule. Then, the Buffs opted to go with Ryan Staub, a player who has been a backup for the Buffs for three seasons and was nowhere near the same recruit as Lewis. While it’s clear that the staff was hoping to not burn his redshirt year this season, they’ve been left with no choice, and are giving him the keys with three games to go in hopes of making a bowl game.

If he was given the keys earlier, how different would this season have gone for the Buffs? It’s no question that he has the raw talent, and now he’s got the platform to go make a name for himself in Boulder.

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