Deion Sanders Passes Over Julian Lewis and Co. for Surprise Decision After Tough Six-Day Test: 'Not a Popularity Contest'

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After six days of grueling fall camp in Colorado Springs, the roster waited eagerly for Deion Sanders to name his team captains. Most fans expected top quarterback Julian Lewis to land the starting leadership patch. Instead, Coach Prime shocked everyone by handing the honor to 26-year-old Australian punter Damon Greaves.

“Mate (Greaves), come on up front, baby. You a leader or a dog? Which one you want?” Deion Sanders said via Colorado insider Uncle Neely’s unreleased audio on YouTube. Damon didn’t hesitate one bit: “Dawg.” That answer apparently told Sanders everything he needed to know. Greaves will now wear the ‘D’ on his jersey, representing Coach Prime’s first “Dawg.”

The decision made perfect sense inside the building. As Neely noted, “Leadership ain’t supposed to be a popularity contest. And leadership damn sure ain’t reserved for just the quarterbacks. If you’re dependable, if you’re accountable, if you handle your business, if your teammates can trust you, you can lead.”

In Sanders’ terminology, captains wear an ‘L’ for leader or a ‘D’ for dawg. Seeing a specialist claim that ‘D’ set an immediate tone for a roster rebuilding its identity.

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Besides, passing Lewis was deliberate. Coach Prime recently made it clear he wants his young star quarterback focused purely on executing plays, not carrying the vocal weight of the locker room.

The 26-year-old Australian, meanwhile, has already taken a pretty unusual path to Boulder. Before football, Greaves played Australian rules football. Greaves eventually came to the United States and played college football at Kansas. He transferred to Colorado last year.

Last season, Greaves handled all 67 of Colorado’s punts. He averaged more than 42 yards per punt, placed 15 inside the 20-yard line, and had 13 punts travel at least 50 yards. His 67-yard punt against Delaware was also the third-longest punt in Colorado history. He earned All-Big 12 honorable mention.

It’s safe to say that after six days of a very different kind of fall camp, Colorado appears to be learning exactly who those players are. At the beginning of camp, Sanders made it clear that nobody’s starting job was guaranteed.

“We don’t know who’s starting. We don’t know who we can trust. Camp is where we learn it,” Sanders told the team, per Uncle Neely.

That reliability stood out during a grueling six-day camp. Sanders intentionally made the trip to Colorado Springs uncomfortable, taking away phones and TVs while packing 104 players into basic college dorm rooms at UCCS. The goal was simple: strip away distractions and see who held the group together when things got tough.

And according to Neely, that experience brought the team closer.

“The discipline has to travel with them. So does the brotherhood. So does the intensity. And most importantly, the dawgs have to travel with them.”

Now the players are heading back toward Boulder, where the comforts return, and all the usual distractions will be waiting, too. That’s when the actual test begins.

With the season opener against Georgia Tech looming in September, camp in Colorado Springs served its purpose. The Yellow Jackets will not care about six hard days in the dorms, but Colorado now knows exactly who will lead them into battle.

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