Julian Lewis' situation raises concerns about Deion Sanders and Colorado

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The Colorado Buffaloes face No. 12 Texas Tech in this year's Big 12 home opener. Deion Sanders' team struggled out of the gate at Baylor last Saturday. Coach Prime pulled the plug on Julian Lewis at halftime and inserted Isaac Wilson into the game.

Wilson led the Buffs' offense to score 10 points in the second half, completing 12-of-25 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. There seems to be a disconnect between Lewis and Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense.

Lewis, a former five-star, was labeled the quarterback to take the keys from Shedeur Sanders and continue moving the program forward. So far, he has not lived up to the standards of Coach Prime. After reviewing what some scouting networks had to say about Lewis playing the quarterback position, he thrives within the pocket, using his skills to dissect opposing teams' defenses while completing passes to his receivers.

While Lewis was going through the scouting phase during his senior year at Carrollton High School (Georgia), his quarterback play was praised for his mechanics and accuracy. And his ability to play within a pro-style offense fits perfectly for him in most college football programs. After evaluating the Buffs' offense he played in last season compared to the current go-go offense, Lewis would be much better suited to the previous system.

Lewis, being pulled at the half, raised a red flag because the quarterback had completed 11-of-16 passes for 75 yards and led the team down the field to kick a field goal. The score at the half was 10-3. The Buffs ended up losing the game 23-13. To be totally honest, the score should have been worse.

In his weekly news conference Tuesday, Sanders refused to name a starting quarterback, but there was a sign Wilson would be promoted this week. "I haven't talked to JuJu. I've talked to Isaac. The kid is excited about the possibilities," Sanders said. "He stood up in the meeting and really talked to the team about this and that and challenged them in many ways. So I'm proud of the young man, I really am."

DJ Lagway gave Coach Prime and the Buffs' defense an early Christmas gift when they were unable to turn several of their offensive possessions into points. The Baylor quarterback's lack seeing the field, making errant decisions and throwing passes to receivers who are double-covered. This gave Colorado opportunities to take advantage of the miscues. The games we’ve seen this season with the Buffs playing from behind and having changed their script of running the ball first. It has not worked in their favor.

The go-go offense averages 21.5 points per game, and against the three Power 4 teams, it's a staggering 11.3 points per game. The excitement of the Buffs football team rushing the ball more this season than ever before in Sanders' era isn't working. This reminds me of the movie Friday, when Smokey tells Craig, “You always have one and not the other; peanut butter, no jelly, ham, no cheese, Kool-Aid, no sugar."

The Go-Go is a high-pace offense that has yet to net one 3,000-yard passer since its inception. When an offensive coordinator is gifted a quarterback who threw for over 11,000 yards and 144 touchdowns as a three-year starter who played in shotgun spread formations with pro-style concepts, use him. Script an offense around him. It would make sense for the offensive coordinator and the quarterback to seamlessly have a playbook that will benefit the quarterback.

Instead, we have another last-ditch effort by Coach Prime to lay blame on another athlete and the offensive coordinator because this was an experiment that was never meant to succeed. When the season comes to a close, the Buffs will likely suffer another losing record. Who is going to shoulder the blame? The offensive coordinator or the quarterback?

If the reports about Lewis trying to backdoor his way through the transfer portal to Georgia Tech are true, Coach Prime won’t have to worry. This young man will leave the season once it concludes. After watching Lewis get pulled at halftime and Marion saying, "Stop being scared" during the first half of the game, Buffs fans should prepare themselves to see another athlete leave the program.

Colorado hosts No. 12 Texas Tech on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX).