The Colorado Buffaloes' 2026 season opener pairing emerged as a homecoming for quarterback Julian Lewis. After all, he established himself as a four-star recruit out of Carrollton High, located approximately an hour from Georgia Tech, plus flipped to coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes after previously committing to USC.

But one insider revealed if Colorado's first foe tried getting him to come "home."

Did Julian Lewis Consider Georgia Tech?

Yellow Jackets insider for On3/Rivals Kelly Quinlan of Jackets Online shared intel on Aug. 26 before the Buffaloes and ACC foe had their rematch to kick off the 2026 campaign.

"A few people around Lewis were interested in him replacing Haynes King as the Jackets' quarterback," Quinlan wrote. "Multiple sources confirmed to JacketsOnline that people representing Lewis inquired about the talented quarterback coming home to Atlanta to play for Tech. This happened in early January when the transfer portal was still open. All communication was through backchannels."

However, Lewis never entered the portal and stayed put at Colorado. Now he became entrenched as the starting quarterback post-Kaidon Salter, who became a one-year experiment for the Buffaloes out of Liberty.

But as for Georgia Tech, the school ended up hosting names like Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula, plus Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea. Ultimately, Alberto Mendoza (younger brother of Indiana national champion quarterback and Las Vegas Raiders first overall pick Fernando Mendoza) landed with the Yellow Jackets.

Like his elder brother, Mendoza tested the portal waters and ended up leaving the defending National Champions. So the Sept. 3 showdown between both schools emerged into a "what if" scenario as Quinlan described.

Julian Lewis on Colorado Structure

Lewis now walks into a brand new offensive setup with Brennan Marion handling the show as offensive coordinator. Marion crosses over following a one-year stint with the Sacramento State Hornets as head coach.

Marion previously defended Lewis over some notable Big 12 Media Day comments. Lewis had stated that he believes he's watching way more film compared to last season under previous offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. But that lured out a swarm of Lewis critics, which prompted Marion to spring into Lewis' defense.

Yet this offense additionally presents new scenarios where the right-handed passer can soar to new heights this season. Marion's "Go-Go" offense brings the look of a run-heavy approach that features sidecar formations out of the running backs, plus becomes efficient and explosive with a dual-threat quarterback behind center.

But Marion stated that Lewis isn't likely to run much in this offense. He'll instead have more one-on-one targets to work with as Marion's offense creates confusion and can take advantage of some bad eye reads. Lewis is anticipated to trust the ground attack and the play action more in this offense, which even includes a fullback and higher tight end usage for this scheme to work dynamically.

Granted, Lewis looks ready to draw a big crowd in his return to the Peach State for the first time since his Carrollton High days. Only this time, he's aiming to upset the home crowd against the university that may have been interested in him once the portal opened up.

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