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Deion Sanders insists he is trying to do right by his players. He says it often. But after Colorado’s loss to Arizona State, Sanders was asked about Julian Lewis and the decision they now face regarding his eligibility, and he made it clear he is not thinking about that at all.
Lewis has now appeared in four games, the NCAA maximum before a redshirt is burned. One more snap in the season finale and his freshman year is gone. Sanders brushed off the concern completely.
“These kids are not thinking about red shirting these days,” Sanders said. “They think about being three and done. They want to go pro. They want to play.”
He explained that if a family comes to him and requests a redshirt, he would listen and work with them on it. But he is not initiating that conversation himself. “That would be, you know, if they came to me and they wanted that, I would oblige them,” Sanders said. “But I do not know if they are the kind of family that wants that. I think they want to play and attain experience.”
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The message landed awkwardly because the decision is not abstract. Lewis finished 19 for 38 for 161 yards with one touchdown and a 22.1 QBR against Arizona State, and Sanders acknowledged the freshman looked rattled. “He was not settled. Never got settled,” Sanders said. “He is a freshman playing against a really good football team.”
Even so, Sanders did not hesitate to express his confidence in Lewis long term. “He is a good young man. He has a bright future ahead of him,” he said. But the question is not about Lewis’ future. It is about whether Colorado chooses to protect it.
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That issue came into fuller view when Sanders told a story about his own recruitment. “I remember going to Georgia and seeing Georgia Tech beat Georgia when I was a senior in high school,” Sanders said. “The head coach said, ‘Once you redshirt a year, you are going to be phenomenal.’ I said, ‘After what I just saw, I could play right now. I can start for you right now.’ But just mentioning the redshirt threw me off. So I took him off the list and went elsewhere.”
It was intended as an illustration of why today’s players want to play immediately. But it unintentionally highlighted the concern.
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Sanders seems to view redshirting as a conversation only initiated by the player. Not the coach. Not the program. Not the adults paid to manage eligibility, NIL value, and long-term career planning.
It is difficult to view that approach as anything other than highly irresponsible. Colorado is 3-8. Next week’s game has no postseason value. In the NIL era, quarterbacks can make life changing money whether or not they ever even step on the field in the NFL. The financial runway for a young quarterback begins now, and eligibility is an asset. Even if Julian Lewis plays like a star the next two years and goes pro, that has nothing to do with the decision they are facing today. The redshirt is about leverage. It is about opportunity. It is about preserving value for the player, not the program.
When Julian Lewis took to the podium after Coach Prime, he provided a little more clarity on his status. “Honestly, I mean, I don't know. [There’s] kind of it's a lot more into it than just me with the red shirting situation, but I don't really have any information on that.”
On a night when Sanders again spoke about doing right by his players, roster management, and a future built around this freshman quarterback, the lack of proactive guidance stands out more than anything that happened on the field.
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