The recruit that began the Deuce Knight saga, and months of frustration for Notre Dame football
On Thursday, a huge domino fell in the 2025 recruiting class when elite Carrollton (Ga.) High School quarterback Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis opted for Colorado. Lewis was previously committed to the USC Trojans, but backed off of his pledge this past Sunday. It’s obviously a massive commitment for head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes. […]
On Thursday, a huge domino fell in the 2025 recruiting class when elite Carrollton (Ga.) High School quarterback Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis opted for Colorado. Lewis was previously committed to the USC Trojans, but backed off of his pledge this past Sunday. It’s obviously a massive commitment for head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes.
When you finally peel back the curtain for the entire recruiting landscape, the 6-0, 185-pound signal caller created a massive ripple effect for the entirety of the 2025 recruiting class. Even though there was never much of a relationship between Lewis and Notre Dame, he did directly create a massive headache for the Irish. For those interested in the whole perspective of the quarterback carousel, make sure to read HERE.
From the Notre Dame perspective, Lewis was the apple of the eye this past offseason for the Auburn Tigers. Around the beginning of July, it appeared to be a near certainty that he would end up in the class. Unfortunately, a contractual difference eventually pushed the two sides too far apart.
Eventually Auburn decided to move on from Lewis, and instead focus on different quarterback options. There were two signal callers that were the next wave of options, including former Irish commit Deuce Knight and Texas pledge KJ Lacey. Knight became the main target quickly after reciprocating the interest.
That interest was followed by several months of frustration. Knight constantly had cold feet, telling Notre Dame he was fully committed while telling Auburn a completely different story. It eventually ended in October, finally, and the Irish staff did a good job recovering quickly by flipping former Clemson commit Blake Hebert.
It’s funny to think what might have happened if Lewis did end up flipping to Auburn. There’s no guarantee that he would have stuck with them, but there is also no proof that he wouldn’t have if the number was right. In that scenario, Auburn never would have gone after Knight.
Now if the Tigers didn’t come after Knight, there is definitely no guarantee that he would have ended up in the Notre Dame class. Ole Miss was still going to be there, and programs like Georgia might have thrown their hat into the ring as well. Still, it is interesting to take a step back and see the ripple effect that one recruit came create, and the impact the Notre Dame class undertook due to Lewis’ exhausting recruitment.
