Auburn Tigers Final Push for Top QB Recruit Julian Lewis

One final push could see the Auburn Tigers closing in on 5-Star QB phenom Julian Lewis

Auburn Tigers recruit and Carrollton Trojans quarterback Julian Lewis / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

As the checkered flag looms into view for the 2025 recruitment drive, Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze might be about to put his foot to the floor.

Scratch that, Freeze might need to use the recruitment equivalent of squeezing down hard on the jet fueled turbo boosters. 

Mainly because there's now a distinct possibility that 5-Star quarterback, Julian "Ju Ju" Lewis, is seriously wavering over his long-standing commitment to join the USC Trojans.

Lewis is the No.1 ranked quarterback prospect with both ESPN and Rivals, furthermore, 247Sports and On3 have the talented youngster listed in their top-5's respectively.

The prodigious talented "Ju Ju" hails from the relatively close locality of Carrollton, Georgia, a bolthole which has the obvious logistic benefit of being only a 90 mile drive away from campus at Auburn.

While a sheer geographical twist of fate will doubtless aid the Tigers pursuit of their next big name QB, analyst Philip Dukes of On3 happens to feel that how Freeze has managed to successfully double down on his recruitment of offensive linemen could prove very attractive to Lewis.

"Can they continue to recruit, continue to stockpile on the offensive line so they can prove they can protect Juju [Lewis], and how do they finish with these other top receivers?" Duke mused during a recent episode of The Five Star Flex.

Adding more weapons has seen Freeze already deliver a stud runner in Alvin Henderson, but he knows he has to pile up the bigger presents under the Christmas tree, especially if Lewis is going to show a real tangible interest in Auburn. 

You might ask where exactly all this fuel for the fire that Lewis might throw his previous pledge to the Trojans in the trash can has actually bubbled up from?

Lewis took a visit to Auburn last month, and more recently took a more highly publicized visit to see Coach Prime.

Sure, the glitzy courtship and photo opportunities Colorado provided is hard to top, and it also serves up the kind of razzmatazz which is feared and loathed in equal measure by a host of college football purists.

Could it be “Perfect Timing” ?@DeionSanders @ShedeurSanders @CUBuffsFootball pic.twitter.com/iON38GdCEi

— Julian "Ju Ju" Lewis QB (@JuJuLewis10) June 23, 2024

Everything might well be up in the air as things currently stand, so re-enter Dukes of On3 expert opinion - who feels all the stallions are still evenly placed in the race for Lewis.

"If I had to bust it down the middle, I wouldn't lean any way with any of these schools," Dukes said. "What I do think is that Colorado really gave the Lewis family a lot to think about this weekend. I think that Auburn is going to continue to push and I think that USC - as long as he's committed to USC, I think you can never count them out, and I'd say they are the leader, because that's where he's committed to."

Dukes is on the money, it would be remiss to completely count out the Trojans ultimately closing the deal with Lewis. That's despite USC having a pair of 5-Star recruits, Justus Terry and Isiaah Gibson, recently backpedaled out of pledging their futures to Coach Lincoln Riley..

Of course, clearly Lewis is savvy enough to be keeping close tabs on the situation he might be walking into. Hence why he's making alternative visits and checking out what's out there for him, but he also remains confident enough that things can be ironed out at the same time at USC

https://247sports.com/college/auburn/article/usc-qb-commit-julian-lewis-teases-flip-to-colorado-during-official-visit-233156418/

"I believe in Coach Riley, and I believe in what he's building over there," Lewis told 247Sports at the Elite 11 Finals. "We had a couple of kids decommit recently, but I believe in him, his offense and what he's done with quarterbacks.That's ultimately why I chose USC.

Reading between the lines, it's no stretch to start believing that Lewis thinks the quarterback whispering acumin of Riley at USC can better prepare him from the professional ranks way beyond his college career.

All said, there's never a dull moment in the carnival of big name collegiate recruitment. With Walker White already on campus as a top-10 recruit in the last class, Auburn can afford to go big game hunting in 2025.