Shedeur’s successor highlights Prime’s star-filled CU signing class

The Colorado Buffaloes added 14 prospects to the roster on Wednesday’s National Early Signing Day. The top-40 ranked class in the country is led in star power by Julian Lewis but there’s no shortage of highly regarded players elsewhere.

Lewis committed to Colorado late last month, announcing his decision to join Coach Prime’s crew on the Pat McAfee Show. With Deion Sadners’ son and Buffs standout quarterback, Shedeur Sanders headed to the NFL Draft where he’s projected to be a top pick, Lewis’ addition is key for CU’s continued success. Lewis is rated as the sixth-best player in the country and the third-best quarterback in the 2025 class. He reclassified from the 2026 class and now is only ranked in Rivals behind Ohio State commit Tavien St. Clair and LSU pledge Bryce Underwood In 13 games for Carrollton (GA) this fall, Lewis has tossed for 3,272 yards and 44 touchdowns. He’s 38-3 thus far in his high school career. He ranks eighth all-time in Georgia prep history for passing yards and fifth for touchdowns despite only playing despite only playing three seasons. But because Leiws is very young, Colorado may still look for a one-year stop-gap quarterback in the transfer portal but he’s the highlight of this class.

Protecting Lewis will be a star recruit from last year Jordan Seaton. The quarterback and tackle are two of the three major prep commits Prime has gotten to come to Boulder. Cormani McClain was in Sanders’ first class. That trio of five-stars equals the number of five-star recruits the Buffs had ever signed in the modern era before Sanders became the coach. Gabe Nyenhuis, Ryan Miller and Darrell Scott were the triumvirate of Buffs five-stars before Sanders. But Seaton isn’t all that’s up from as most of the current group of linemen, who they landed in the portal last winter, have another year of eligibility left. Nonetheless, they’ll be bolstered by four-star signees upfront Chauncey Gooden and Carde Smith as well as three-star Jay Gardenhire.

IMG four-star London Merritt, who committed on Shannon Sharpe’s Nighcap show last week, is the big defender CU picked up on Wednesday. The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder is an edge that tallied 31 tackles, including four for loss, five sacks, and 11 quarterback hurries in 2023 at Woodward Academy. This season he did even better in just eight games, totaling 23 tackles, four of which were for a loss, 15 quarterback hurries, one sack, and seven pass break-ups. Four-star defenders Christian Hudson, a lineman, and safety Antonio Branch also inked. Hudson who is from Florida flipped from Big 12 rival UCF while Branch has been playing for Teddy Bridgewater at Miami Northwestern—showcasing Prime’s ability to own his home state.

But Sander’s second home in Lone Star world was also a big region of additions for Colorado. The Buffaloes added two four-star pass-catchers for Lewis from Texas. Adrian Wilson and Quanell X Farrakhan Jr. signed on Wednesday. Wilson is the cousin of Tyree Wilson, who was selected No. 7 in the 2024 NFL Draft. In his final season of prep ball, the 6-foot-2 wideout caught 47 passes for 985 yards and 14 touchdowns to help lead Weiss to the Texas 5A playoffs. A year before, he hauled in 60 catches for 1,003 yards and 14 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Farrakhan, also 6-foot-2, has caught 38 balls for 762 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns this far while his team is a perfect 13-0. He has also added 409 punt return yards and 65 kick return yards to go along with three punt return touchdowns. The former first-team All-District player has been named MaxPreps All-American in the past.

The 14 new players are just the start for Sanders who says he plans to attack the transfer portal more than he ever has, which is wild given how many impact players Coach Prime has scored from there. So look for Colorado’s roster to be a lot different next year, yet again with Wednesday’s haul being the initial core to supplement several returning standouts.