BOULDER, Colo. — They say it's the hope that kills you, but hope has been in such short supply this season for the Colorado Buffaloes.
In a season that's gone sideways, what we saw against West Virginia is a reason to believe Coach Prime could build this program back into a winner.
“You gotta want this thing," Sanders said. "You gotta have a locker room full of kids that really want this thing a lot more than they want certain things that they enjoy.”
The Buffs found their quarterback.
“He did some wonderful things," Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders said about freshman QB Julian Lewis. "You could see he’s going to be special. The kid played well, well enough for us to win the game."
Colorado did not win the game. However, Julian Lewis' looked impressive in his first college start.
Lewis completed 63% of his passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns in the loss at West Virginia. The young man who goes by "JuJu" seemingly injected this football team with good energy.
“Realistically, I didn’t know if [my first start] was going to come anytime this season," Lewis said after the game. "I just looked at it as a blessing. I settled down a little bit, I’m not going to say I was frantic or frightened or anything, but of course there were those natural nerves coming into [the game]. I did what I had to do.”
“You gotta understand, we have a freshman quarterback," Sanders said. "He hadn’t seen some stuff and he was a little nervous early on before he got right. He got out of the pocket, did some good things with the ball. The kid is going to be alright.”
On the field, Lewis showed poise and power befitting the five-star prospect he was coming out of high school. Through his words, he showed a strength and leadership beyond his 18 years.
“We’re not going to give up," Lewis said. "The last couple beat downs, we looked like we’d given up and hadn’t wanted it as bad. I think you could tell how bad we wanted this one, so this is going to hurt.”
“We’re better than this and they deserve better than this. I want better than this and I feel like I coach better than this. We’ve got players that are so much better than the production that we’re putting out. I feel like we’ve got the nucleus inside the locker room that we should be getting it done.”
Now, the challenge for Coach Prime is to weigh experience against eligibility. After their final bye week of the season, the Buffs have two remaining games on the schedule against Arizona State and Kansas State.
If Lewis plays in both of those games, he will burn his red shirt and thus lose a year of eligibility despite only appearing in five of twelve games.
For JuJu, you can't put a price on a chance to play the game he loves.
“I want to play football," Lewis said. "I’ve been sitting down all season, I’m ready to play, I’m excited, the guys are ready to work. I’m not going home or anything like that. I’m going to sit in the facility watch film and try to grow. Try to keep all the receivers out there and build that connection, get ready for next year.”
Marrying that mentality with Lewis' rare athletic talent could eventually make him one of the nation's best quarterbacks.
And in college football, if you have a quarterback, you have a chance to win every week.
