Julian Lewis' impact and other unknowns ahead of Colorado football's fall camp

The Colorado Buffaloes enter the 2026 college football season with several unknowns. Not internally, but for analysts trying to piece it together.

If you're trying to base Deion Sanders and the Buffs' outlook on last season, forget about it. Two different teams with another roster flip, and it's safe to say this is unpredictable. Nobody knows what Sanders is going to do with two new coordinators. With 42 new transfers on the books, we may not know just how good Colorado is until mid-October.

The Buffs have four returning starters this year. So really, this is a brand-new program. Julian Lewis had a little bit of burn at the end of last year. And it's easy to look at the numbers and say he wasn't as productive as he should have been.

However, Lewis was working with a terrible offensive line. Absolutely no time to throw and constantly in desperation mode. This is where the real Julian Lewis needs to show up and ball out. The Buffs' offense, with the Go-Go scheme, will be fun to watch. Brennan Marion likes to put his QBs in the best position to rack up stats. This should translate well for Lewis, who has just become magically better. How much does that scheme help account for the personnel Colorado has right now?

The answer is Lewis won't be featured as a true dual threat. This will allow his talents to be maximized. We just don't know what that looks like yet. It's hard to assess whether new pieces come together with a new scheme which hasn't been rolled out at the Power Four level.

What we do know about Lewis is his background as a former five-star passer at Carrollton (Georgia) before committing to Sanders and Colorado. The Gatorade Player of the Year from the Peachtree State was good enough to reclassify up a year. But that could've been the move to hurt his progression the most. Especially after Lewis admitted Pat Shurmur allowed backyard style football to be played towards the end of the season. Regardless, this is Lewis' time to silence his critics and take control of the starting spot.

With that being said, Colorado's first test comes on a Thursday night under the lights in Atlanta. Alberto Mendoza, who is now Georgia Tech's starting quarterback, will have an opportunity to prove he's not in his brother's shadow.

The Buffs and Yellow Jackets kick off the season on Sept 3 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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