Colorado freshman quarterback Julian "JuJu" Lewis doesn’t turn 18 years old until September and still needs to add more beef to a body that weighs less than 200 pounds. But he’s already in the middle of the biggest storyline of the season for his new head coach, Deion Sanders.
As a top recruit out of Carrollton, Georgia, Lewis also has a business agent, his own branded line of merchandise and an ownership stake in a company that aims to democratize name, image and likeness deals for college players (NIL).
In many ways, this makes him the poster child of this wild new era of college sports. His father even makes sure he knows his roles.
“He’s always reminding me that I have two jobs: QB and entrepreneur,” Lewis said.
Lewis agreed to discuss these dual ambitions in an email interview with USA TODAY Sports. Both roles are being boosted by a company that he partly owns called Fanstake, where fans can pay to lure recruits to their favorite college teams by contributing to their NIL deals.
