Auburn has emerged as a program in very good standing with Julian Lewis. The Tigers are, according to BuffsBeat's Josh Tolle, the team most needing to sway Lewis away from for Colorado football and other interested suitors.
"Lewis will make his third visit to Colorado over the past eight months," Tolle said of Lewis's visit. "The task for Coach Prime and the rest of the Buffaloes coaches will be trying to flip the Georgia native from USC. They'll also have to match the energy of other schools trying to sway Lewis away, most notably Auburn, who reportedly pulled out all the stops in an effort to leave a lasting impression this past weekend."
Lewis completing his commitment to USC no longer seems likely. CU won't stop making overtures for him until National Signing Day, and probably beyond that.
Julian Lewis committing to Buffs just means more for Colorado football
FOX Sports' RJ Young believes the Buffs landing Lewis would be era-defining for Deion Sanders following the loss of Shedeur Sanders to the NFL in 2025.
"We have folks that believe that Coach Prime has no reason to stay at Colorado once Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders are gone to the NFL. I think there's some credence to that because Prime got into coaching to coach his boys," Young said. "He watched them play in Little League. He didn't like the way the coach was coaching them thought he was going to get them hurt. He found himself getting up out of his chair more often than not to go to correct something or to help, and before you know it, he's coaching the teams. And he did that in high school at Trinity, and he did that at Jackson State, and now he's done it at Colorado. Everywhere that they have gone, he has gone, so if you think that he would follow them to the NFL, you got a point given what we've seen in the past.
Auburn has Little Rock Christian's Walker White or Lipscomb Academy's Hank Brown ready to take over for Payton Thorne in 2024 following his final year of eligibility. Colorado has, at the moment, Ryan Staub looking like the most likely starter if someone isn't brought in from the 2024 class.
It'd mean a lot more for CU to land JuJu than Auburn or USC.