He came to Colorado as a five-star recruit with dazzling numbers in high school.

As he aims to replace the best quarterback in Buffaloes’ history, however, Julian Lewis said he isn’t feeling pressure to prove anything to anyone.

“Not particularly,” Lewis said. “I mean, I guess I’ve got more to prove myself than anybody else. I’ve been called overrated since I was 7, so it’s kind of like, it is what it is on that part of the football. But I just want to go in and ball out. It’s everybody’s goal to come in here and win.”

Lewis, who won’t turn 18 years old until Sept. 21 — a day after the Buffs’ fourth game of the 2025 season — won a lot in high school. A three-year starter at Carrollton (Ga.) High School, he led his team a 39-4 record and two appearances in the state title game.

Graduating a year and a half early from high school, Lewis joined the Buffs before the Valero Alamo Bowl in December and has already made a good impression.

“JuJu is phenomenal,” CU offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said Tuesday after the Buffs’ first practice of spring. “He’s a young talent. He’s very natural in what he does, and he’s fun.”

Lewis had been itching for Tuesday. Over the past couple of months, he and his teammates had gone through numerous offseason workouts, but Tuesday was his first official practice with the Buffs.

“Finally the time came,” he said. “I’ve been bored waiting, trying to get installs and stuff like that. It was definitely the best part (on Tuesday), being able to actually play football.”

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Lewis is loaded with talent, as a consensus top-seven quarterback in the 2025 class by the major recruiting services. He competed 69.1% of his passes in high school, throwing for 11,010 yards, 144 touchdowns (48 each season) and only 21 interceptions — 12 of those as a freshman.

Lewis originally committed to USC on Aug. 22, 2023, and remained pledged to the Trojans for about 15 months before flipping to CU in November.

“I think looking at it, it was the building process of the organization,” Lewis said of why he chose CU. “The program trying to build its way up, from Prime (head coach Deion Sanders) getting here, them building up their record and doing all the stuff they’ve done. It was hard to pass up on the opportunity to come under Prime.”

Lewis played high level prep football in Georgia, which he believes got him ready for CU. He has also had an opportunity to get to know and learn from Shedeur Sanders, who set numerous passing records at CU and is projected as a top-five pick in next month’s NFL Draft.

“It’s a definitely a blessing for me to have a guy like him that just came over the top of me,” Lewis said. “Me and Shedeur talked about we came from different paths. I didn’t start at (Jackson State) and all that stuff. Just looking at it from another Black quarterback is always good to hear from, even older guys that retired. Understanding their path is humbling.”

Now that he’s in Boulder, Lewis is beginning a battle for the starting job with senior Kaidon Salter, a transfer from Liberty, and returning sophomore Ryan Staub.

Yet, while Lewis has plenty of confidence, he’s also bringing a humble approach to his first spring.

“(The goal is) just to grow and get stronger, learn the offense,” he said. “Of course, everybody thinks it’s a quarterback battle and stuff like that, but we’ve got some great quarterbacks in the room and great personalities. I just love being around the guys every day. I’m happy to be here.”