It’s raining elite players on Lincoln Riley’s program! First, they bagged the sensation of the season, five-star QB Julian Lewis, and managed to retain him through some strong attempts to lure him away. Now, Coach Lincoln Riley and Co. have got their hands on another elite-level player Xavier Griffin. Per On3, four-star LB of class of 2026 class Xavier Griffin has committed to USC. Griffin’s ranks like No. 27 overall prospect, No. 2 linebacker, and No. 5 recruit are impressive sure, but will they be impressive enough if their star player of the 2025 season leaves?

Looking at the recent hints rolling out from Colorado and Julian Lewis, the talks of the QB making the much-awaited and talked-about switch to Colorado soon are all over the place. Sources like the Folsom Frenzy podcast have been speculating on Riley’s strategy without ‘JuJu’ in the picture, saying, “We only see two possibilities here…1. USC doesn’t want Ju Ju 2. USC knows Ju Ju is a Buff.” Even the Buffs have affirmed the rumors to a certain extent when they promised their biggest fan, Peggy Coppom, that she might witness JuJu in the Buffs uniform soon. Even Shedeur Sanders has sneakily welcomed Lewis to the team with a poster of him handing over the ‘keys of responsibilities’ to JuJu.

It was only a safe bet for Riley to start looking for some other QBs, just in case Lewis backs out. The USC has been doing just that by attempting to pursue another elite QB, Texas LB commit Longstreet. Now, amid all this hustle, a commit from an elite player of the 2026 class would be a blessing for Riley and Co. And this is not just a win-win situation for only the USC. Colorado gets its fair share of winning too!

How Colorado wins with Julian Lewis’s commit

It was only very recently that SEC analyst Paul Finebaum tried dragging Colorado and Deion Sanders’ names through the mud. Finebaum called Colorado ‘irrelevant’ in the bigger CFB picture. Now, if Deion Sanders and Co. can get their hands on Julian Lewis, making him flip to CU, it would be a direct slap to Finebaum’s comments.

The fame that Lewis has is no joke, neither are his football skills. If we add Lewis’ fame to the already existing fame of CU, the team would escalate to being one of the ‘most relevant’ teams in CFB. All of that depends on one decision of Lewis. Do you think JuJu would make the flip? Let us know in the comments.