​After emerging as one of the Big 12’s more competent units in 2024, Colorado’s offense regressed sharply in 2025. Under head coach Deion Sanders, the Buffs ranked 114th nationally in yards per game at 328.4 and 116th in points per game with 20.9. Midseason, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was demoted and stripped of playcalling duties as the team tried to salvage the campaign. During Big 12 media days in Frisco, Texas, on Tuesday, quarterback Julian Lewis offered insights into the prior year’s dysfunction in a clip that quickly circulated on social media.
Lewis indicated that the Buffs did not engage in substantial film study or thorough gameplanning against opposing defenses last season. “My play, I’m actually looking at the defenses now,” he said. “Last year, we weren’t really looking at defenses much, just kind of high school free-balling, just out there playing football. But it’s a lot bigger than that now, so it should be fun.”
To address the issues, Sanders has installed a new playcaller for this fall: Brennan Marion, formerly the head coach at Sacramento State and the offensive coordinator at UNLV. Colorado hopes Marion’s up-tempo, high-energy approach can unlock the best from Lewis, a former five-star recruit who appeared in four games and started two last season.
Last year’s numbers for Lewis were modest but notable in context: he threw for 589 yards and four touchdowns while remaining interception-free in his four appearances, completing 55.3 percent of his passes. At 17 years old when his true freshman season began, Lewis showed potential that could be realized with a more sophisticated scheme and improved preparation. If the added complexity of Marion’s offense and a more deliberate game plan can elevate Lewis’s decision-making and consistency, the sophomore could become a bright spot on a unit that otherwise carries a number of uncertainties.
As the program seeks to rebound, Colorado is betting that a refreshed coaching staff, a more rigorous film and game-planning routine, and a faster, more intricate offensive scheme will help Lewis and the Buffs regain the form they displayed in 2024. This offseason, the emphasis has been on aligning practice, installation, and in-game adjustments with a clearer understanding of defensive pressures, coverages, and tendencies. Whether Marion’s system and the measured approach to preparation can translate into tangible on-field improvement remains one of the season’s key questions.
For ongoing updates and deeper coverage of college football developments, follow @College_Wire on X and @College_Wires on Threads, and stay connected with College Sports Wire for continued notes, analysis, and opinions. This report originally appeared on College Sports Wire under the headline highlighting Julian Lewis’s candid revelations about Colorado’s 2025 offense.