Watch: Five-star QB Julian Lewis makes confession about leaving USC to join Coach Prime's Colorado

Five-star quarterback Julian Lewis is the centerpiece of Colorado’s 2025 recruiting class. On Tuesday, the Buffaloes introduced Lewis along with fellow quarterbacks Ryan Staub and Kaidon Salter.

Lewis initially committed to USC but later decommitted and chose to join Deion Sanders’ program. After his first practice, he shared his thoughts on the decision.

"Honestly I think looking at it was the building process of the organization," Lewis said to reporters. "Like the program just trying to build its way up from (Coach) Prime getting here to them building their record and doing all the stuff they've done. It's just like it was hard to pass up on the opportunity to come under prime and stuff like that."

Originally part of the 2026 class, Lewis played just three seasons of high school football before reclassifying in January to join the 2025 cycle. He explained that reclassifying was something he always considered, even when he was committed to USC.

"That was always the goal was to skip that last year high school," Lewis said. "I feel like high school football probably didn't have much more for me even if it meant coming in here and competing for a job young and doing all that stuff. I just felt like it'd be best for me to get in here as early as possible."

When Lewis decided to reclassify, ESPN ranked him as the No. 1 player in the 2026 class. Despite moving up a year, he remains a top-10 QB across all four major recruiting services.

Julian Lewis shares the experience of first practice at Colorado

Julian Lewis has been a top target for Deion Sanders and his staff as they look for Shedeur Sanders' successor. With Shedeur and Travis Hunter moving on, Colorado is entering a new chapter.

Lewis got his first real taste of the program during an official college football practice on Tuesday.

"It was definitely great, finally time came," Lewis said. "Whatever, I'm bored waiting trying to get installs and stuff like that. But nah it was definitely the best part today getting to actually play football so yeah."

While Lewis doesn’t have the ideal size, he shares many of the same strengths that made Shedeur successful at Colorado, including his accuracy and football IQ. The question is whether he can live up to the standards set by his predecessor in Boulder.