Deion Sanders defends decision to start JuJu Lewis at quarterback vs. West Virginia
Following its 3-6 start to the season, Deion Sanders and Colorado is officially starting freshman JuJu Lewis against West Virginia on Saturday.
Lewis, who was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2025, has played in two games this season. He’s completed 11/21 passes for 129 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Following disappointing play from fellow quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub, the freshman is finally getting his chance to shine.
During Wednesday’s Coaches Show, Sanders defended the decision to start the young quarterback.
“He’s up,” Sanders said. “He’s been having some decent practices. He’s just got to learn the pace of the game. These guys are much faster than the high school guys. They make great reads and they understand tendencies. He has to study his butt off, which he’s been doing, and make the proper reads and get the ball out of there.”
Lewis is the third Colorado quarterback to start this season
Coach Prime has rotated the three quarterbacks in his first season at Colorado without Shedeur Sanders at quarterback. With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Buffaloes boast just one power-four victory (No. 22 Iowa State on Oct. 11).
“He’s good,” Sanders said during Tuesday’s media opportunity. “He’s throwing the heck out of the ball. He’s a young kid. We’re going to make young kid mistakes, but it’s up to the staff to get him prepared, to get him ready so he can be concise and precise. He has to make quick reads and get the ball out of and run when he feels pressure, and just be himself. Just do what you’ve been doing your whole life.”
“I don’t talk about bad. I don’t wanna do that. The good thing is that he got the ball out in certain situations. He saw what was coming, what was happening. He received information and tried to apply it — what he was receiving through the headset. Which he did a good job about that.”
“He was more talkative to his teammates. What I mean by that is you got to communicate with your linemen, your backs and your receivers. You got to let them know that you’re there, you’re in command, you’re in control, because they’re looking for leadership.”
Colorado will be seeking its fourth victory of the season this Saturday against West Virginia. The Buffaloes will have to win their final three games of the season (West Virginia, Arizona State and Kansas State) to achieve bowl eligibility.
