‘That Was My Fault’ — Deion Sanders Comes Clean on Taking Shedeur Sanders For Granted as Uncertainty Grips Colorado QB Julian Lewis

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From Jackson State to Colorado, Deion Sanders had the unusual advantage of developing an elite quarterback in his own son, Shedeur Sanders, throughout much of his college coaching career.

With Colorado now navigating quarterback uncertainty after Shedeur’s departure to the NFL, Coach Prime has opened up about the challenge of developing a new signal-caller in Julian Lewis.

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With Shedeur at quarterback, Coach Prime recorded his best season at Colorado, posting a 9-4 record in 2024. Shedeur was involved in Lewis’ recruitment, including symbolically handing him the ‘keys’ to the program during a Colorado visit.

However, Lewis had an uneven debut season in limited action at Colorado in 2025, appearing in four games and making two starts, and this season has also presented challenges. In Colorado’s loss to Northwestern, Lewis completed 19 of 29 passes for 168 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

Ahead of Colorado’s upcoming game against Baylor, Sanders was asked to clarify a previous comment about recruiting Lewis and finding a successor to Shedeur.

A reporter referenced Sanders’ previous admission that he had ‘made a mistake’ and asked whether he had assumed too much about the next quarterback based on what Shedeur had brought to the position.

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“I think I was saying I took (it) for granted,” Coach Prime answered. “That position [quarterback] of how valuable it was because that position was always one room over in my house. So it’s easy to take that for granted when it’s right there, my whole life of coaching youth ball, coaching junior high, coaching high school, coaching college, it was right there at sleep.”

“All I had to do was wake it up, and it was gonna do what it’s gonna do. So that was my fault, taking that for granted. But you understand, when it was always there, it gave you comfort.”

However, Lewis doesn’t lack potential, and Coach Prime knows it as ESPN ultimately ranked Lewis as the No. 3 pocket passer and No. 12 overall prospect in the 2025 class.

Lewis originally belonged to the 2026 recruiting class before reclassifying to 2025 and enrolling early at Colorado. Because of his age, Sanders understands that immediately expecting Lewis to assume a leadership role would be unrealistic.

Before the season, Sanders told CBS Sports that he did not need Lewis to “lead” Colorado at this stage because of how young he is. He reiterated that stance during Tuesday’s press conference while emphasizing that Lewis’ development will take time.

“I told y’all he’ll be coming around the mountain, right, so what does that mean? He’s not there yet,” Sanders said on questions of Lewis’ leadership. “I don’t expect that from certain positions because that’s not the makeup of who they are. My job as a coach is I got to find the best that you can be in you and highlight that and put you in those situations to succeed.”

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“I can’t expect something out of you that’s not in you,” he added. “It does not matter. Like just so happens in NFL they make mistakes and they put a ‘C’ on every quarterback’s shirt. He’s not the captain of that [expletive] team if you really thought about it.”

Lewis now ranks No. 102 in the PFN QB Impact after three games of the college football season.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.

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