2026 QB Julian Lewis has all eyes on him as one of the nation's elite passers

There’s Dylan Raiola, and Julian Sayin, Air Noland and DJ Lagway. Bryce Underwood and George MacIntyre. The elite quarterbacks in 2024 and 2025. But there’s arguably no more talked-about passer in the high school ranks than Julian ‘Juju’ Lewis.

The Carrollton (Ga.) sophomore — that’s Class of 2026 — has been talked about since YouTube videos of him as an 8-year old went viral. He’s broken down film on podcasts, and both The Athletic and ESPN have written about him as the next phenom quarterback recruit.

“I’ve had the privilege of coaching Trevor Lawrence,” Carrollton High School coach Joey King told ESPN earlier this year. “He’s in the same category as Trevor. The skill set and arm talent he has are definitely advanced for his age.”

Lewis threw for more than 4,000 yards and 48 touchdowns as a freshman. He boasts more Instagram followers than Raiola, Sayin, Noland and Lagway — each of the 2024 five-star QBs in the On3 Industry Ranking — … combined.

Lewis was the main attraction this past weekend on ESPN’s Geico High School Football Kickoff as his Carrollton team took on Noland’s Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes squad. Carrollton fell in the final minutes on a terrific game-winning touchdown throw by Noland, but Lewis was again the talk of the night.

Lewis’ recruitment is in hyperspeed

The 6-foot, 185-pounder just opened his second season of high school football, but he’s already one of the nation’s most-wanted recruits. Offers from across the country are already out to him, including programs like USC, Georgia, Alabama, Florida State, Texas, Oregon, Tennessee and more.

But even for a quarterback — whose recruitment often ends six to 12 months before other positional prospects — Lewis is on an expedited process.

“Speaking of a timeline, I think he’s a guy that you have to watch because he could make a commitment decision at any time,” On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons said. “That has definitely crossed his mind and has been discussed between him and people close to him. There’s really no timeline, but he’s not ruling out a decision this year, meaning this football season. He could announce this month or he could wait all the way through this season, watch these teams he’s considering and see if the program and the offenses are performing. I think those things could be in play, but I think he will be an early decision.”

From more than 30 offers, Lewis cut his list down to Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M and USC this summer. But according to Simmons, there are three schools look to have separated themselves at this point. Others are still in contention but appear to be further down his list.

“Alabama, Georgia and USC, those are the three that I think are at the top right now,” Simmons said. “Georgia is the home-state school for him, he’s been there numerous times. He likes Kirby Smart, he likes Mike Bobo and he’s very comfortable with the players there. I think that’s a team he maybe wants to watch play more this season and see what they do offensively under Mike Bobo as the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator.”

Quarterback development at Alabama and USC are a major factor

While the Bulldogs have had massive success on the field the past few years, they haven’t exactly been a quarterback factory in the same way that programs like USC (under Lincoln Riley) and Alabama have. Winning games is extremely important to Lewis, but so is his development and the offense in which he plays.

“Alabama, he has a couple of teammates there committed, including Caleb Odom and Zykee Hylton, a 2026 offensive lineman. He likes Tommy Rees as a younger guy, and they relate well,” Simmons added. “He has been compared to Bryce Young, someone who is smaller in stature but is a big-time playmaking ability. I think with Juju, it’s about what ‘Bama does with quarterbacks. Bryce, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, even going all the way back to Jalen Hurts.

The wild card seems to be the Trojans, who are the furthest from home of any program he’s considering, and they don’t play in the SEC. But Lincoln Riley’s development of quarterbacks, both in his short stint at USC but also his time at Oklahoma, is a huge selling point. And in the world of NIL, the Trojans have proven with the likes of Caleb Williams that there’s something different about being QB1 at USC.

“Lincoln Riley and his own track record with quarterbacks speaks for itself. His resume, his player development at that position, his playcalling, they really like what he does,” Simmons said. “And they like L.A. Juju is very marketable, he’s one of the biggest names in recruiting right now regardless of class. Obviously that Hollywood audience is appealing given what they’re seeing with Caleb Williams. Not only now, but after football as well.”

And all of this is said with the very real possibility that Lewis would choose to reclassify up a year into the Class of 2025, making for a very interesting competition between him and No. 1 quarterback Bryce Underwood for the top spot in the junior class.

Julian Lewis is ‘ahead of the curve’ as a young prospect

For now, Lewis will be recruited and evaluated as a 2026 prospect. And for someone just entering the second year of high school football, he has already shown an amount of polish and understanding of the game that players a year or even two often don’t.

In On3’s initial 2026 recruiting watch list, he is the only quarterback with a 91 rating — the highest given to prospects at this juncture.

“He just has the ability to make good decisions and is ahead of the curve in that regard at this point,” says Charles Power, On3’s Director of Scouting and Rankings. I’d say he’s the most battle-tested of that group and goes a long way in him being the only one with a 91 rating.

… Now, that’s with the huge caveat that the sophomore season will take importance over the freshman season, same with the junior and senior seasons. There’s a long way to go in evaluating these quarterbacks.”

Power believes the comparisons to Young, the No. 2 overall recruit in the Class of 2020, are a bit premature, though.

“He wasn’t much of a runner as a freshman, so I want to see how he grows in that area,” he said. “He’s gotten a lot of Bryce Young comparisons, but it’s really hard for me to compare a lot of high school QBs to Bryce because he was kind of just a magician as a playmaker. So I would pump the brakes on that a little bit this early on because it’s a high bar with his improvisational skills.”

Where Lewis does draw those comparisons is his accuracy and polish at an early age. Rarely does he make unforced errors, the level of consistency he throws at is again something you don’t see from many quarterbacks at this stage. His pocket movement skills have improved, Power said, and likely will continue to do as plays more and more in one of Georgia’s highest classifications.

“He consistently delivers, not a lot of variance on his throws. He’s steady, accurate, and that level of consistency is just different,” he added. “We want to see him continue to progress as a playmaker, but he’s pretty developed physically. I think we’ll get a better picture of his play style as he develops his own flavor as a quarterback. Right now, his calling cards are his accuracy, his consistency and the way he makes decisions for a player just starting his sophomore season.”