Freshman quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis and sophomore wideout Joseph Williams have already started dreaming up ways to make Colorado’s offense must-watch television this fall. In a recent practice video from Deion Sanders’ in-house Well Off Media channel, the pair laughed about a gadget play in which Williams, a former high-school quarterback, would take a reverse pitch and loft a touchdown pass back to Lewis. “Me and Ju already have a plan,” Williams grinned. “I’m gonna throw a touchdown to him in a game.” Lewis loved the idea, calling it “already in the playbook.”

The exchange offered a glimpse of the easy chemistry developing between two of the youngest faces in Boulder. Lewis arrived this spring as a five-star early enrollee from Carrollton (Ga.) High, hand-picked to be the long-term successor to Shedeur Sanders. Williams, a 6-foot-2 transfer from Tulsa, spent last year redshirting and studying the Buffaloes’ offense. Their on-field rapport is coming at the right time: after a 9-4 breakthrough in 2024, Colorado opens the 2025 season on Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech with a wide-open quarterback derby and an almost entirely rebuilt receiver room.

For now, Lewis is locked in a spirited battle with Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, who brings 28 career college starts and dual-threat credentials to the competition. Salter has also taken notice of Williams’ catch-radius, joking that jump balls to the rangy sophomore feel “more like 75-25 than 50-50.” Lewis echoed the sentiment, praising Williams’ timing and ability to “bully smaller corners” on fades. Those compliments are not just lip service; both passers targeted Williams repeatedly in April’s spring game, suggesting he could emerge as an early-season security blanket regardless of who wins the job.

Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur has not ruled out sprinkling in packages that use both quarterbacks, a possibility that keeps defensive coordinators guessing. Still, the prevailing assumption around Folsom Field is that Salter’s experience will earn him the first snap of 2025, allowing the 17-year-old Lewis to ease in. If that script holds, the trick-play conversation may have to wait until mid-season red-zone packages—yet the mere fact that it is being discussed publicly underscores the confidence Sanders’ freshmen already carry.

Looking beyond September, Colorado’s skill positions appear stocked for an aerial attack built on mismatches. Williams headlines a receiver corps that also features high-ceiling sophomores Omarion Miller and Sincere Brown, Florida State transfer Hykeem Williams (no relation), and freshmen Quentin Gibson and Quanell X Farrakhan Jr. With Jordan Seaton entrenched at left tackle and four veteran transfers—Xavier Hill, Zylon Crisler, Zarian McGill and Larry Johnson III—shoring up the line, Sanders believes the Buffs can push the ball downfield far more comfortably than they did a year ago.

The long-term vision, however, revolves around Lewis. Salter’s eligibility expires after this season, clearing the runway for the teenage prodigy to assume full control in 2026. By then, Lewis and Williams could be the program’s next marquee tandem, echoing the Shedeur Sanders-Travis Hunter connection that powered last year’s resurgence. For now, their playful plotting is the latest signal that Colorado’s locker-room culture—once mocked for its transfer churn—has settled into a confident, creative groove.

Whether or not the trick play ever leaves the practice script, the Buffs have already accomplished something essential: their youngest stars are thinking beyond simple installs, looking for ways to put defenses in conflict and inject fun into a Big 12 race that suddenly feels wide-open. If quarterback embraces receiver and vice versa as seamlessly on Saturdays as they do on social media snippets, Colorado’s offense could be every bit as entertaining as its head coach’s press conferences.