Shedeur Sanders' successor Julian Lewis signs his first NIL deal at Colorado

The Colorado Buffaloes made a splash in their 2025 recruiting class, flipping five-star quarterback Julian Lewis from Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans. With Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders set to hit the 2025 NFL draft, Lewis is slated to take over the starting job to lead the Buffaloes for at least the next three seasons.

Lewis is arguably Deion Sanders' most highly touted recruit since Travis Hunter and will be highly coveted for NIL opportunities as the next Buffaloes star. Over the weekend, Lewis landed his first NIL deal with Fanstake as the company's first brand ambassador.

Lewis was graded as the No. 2 player in ESPN's 2025 Top 300 list and was ranked as a five-star recruit despite reclassifying. He elected to forego his senior season at Carrollton High School in Georgia.

In a storied high school career, Lewis racked up over 10,000 passing yards and finished as a finalist for Gatorade Player of the Year in 2023 after leading Carrollton to the Georgia 7-A state quarterfinals.

Fanstake directly involves fans in the recruiting and transfer portal processes. Fans can buy stakes, which add funds to a pool for a player or team for name, image and likeness deals.

Julian Lewis spends time with Shedeur Sanders during Bowl week

A trend for the Colorado Buffaloes leading up to their 36-14 loss to BYU in the Alamo Bowl was Julian Lewis being around Shedeur Sanders. Lewis practiced with the Buffaloes in preparation for their bowl game and worked closely with Sanders to learn from one of the greatest quarterbacks in program history.

Working with Sanders will give Lewis a better sense of the offensive playbook entering his first collegiate season. Colorado is slated to become the Buffaloes' starter next season, but will have competition with the addition of Kaidon Salter, who transferred from Liberty.

Salter will play in his fifth season in 2025 after spending the past four years at Liberty, where he racked up 5,889 passing yards and 77 total touchdowns with 17 interceptions.

Salter starred for the Flames in 2023, completing 61% of his passes for 2,876 yards and 32 touchdowns with six interceptions. He added 163 carries for 1,089 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in 14 games.