Colorado
The Best Thing Deion Sanders Could Do For Quarterback Julian Lewis
Coach Deion Sanders has another busy offseason ahead as he looks to correct the current mess his Colorado Buffaloes find themselves in.
Because Colorado’s offense has taken a sizable step back this season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see “Coach Prime” move on from offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur either this month or next. If that comes to fruition, DNVR’s Scott Procter believes finding a new offensive coordinator who can grow alongside freshman quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis will become Colorado’s top priority this offseason.
“This offseason, that has to be priority No. 1, getting a creative OC — young, old, experienced, inexperienced, but a creative OC who can gel and grow with Julian Lewis,” Procter said on the DNVR Buffs Podcast. “As talented as anybody is, you need coaching, you need help, you need to be prepared, you need to be put in ideal situations game-to-game, down-to-down, and that hasn’t been the case for this offense this year.”
Shurmur also serves as Colorado’s quarterbacks coach, making his day-to-day perhaps more complicated than necessary. To help Lewis’ development, Procter believes that “Coach Prime” would be wise to instead hire two separate people for the roles of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
“When people mention the quarterbacks coach, add that to the list as well,” Procter said. “And do not make it be, this is gonna be our OC and quarterbacks (coach). No, that has to be two different positions to help this young guy (Lewis) develop the way you want him and need him to, to kind of save this program from where it has gone the last couple of weeks, so that’s my biggest thing.”
Procter added that “Coach Prime” will likely make changes to his staff once the regular season is complete. The 3-6 Buffs have only three games remaining and would have to win all three to qualify for a bowl game.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s going to be changes to that coaching staff over the next month before the season ends, but this offseason, that decision has to be made with Julian Lewis in mind,” Procter said.
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CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported Sunday that Lewis is expected to receive his first career start on Saturday against the West Virginia Mountaineers. While Shurmur remains Colorado’s offensive coordinator, the 18-year-old true freshman has a valuable opportunity ahead this weekend in Morgantown.
In relief of Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub, Lewis threw for 121 yards and one touchdown in the second half of Saturday’s loss to the Arizona Wildcats. The former five-star prospect now has an entire week to prepare for West Virginia’s defense, which has allowed 406.4 yards per game (14th in Big 12).
Lewis’ first career start will kick off at 10 a.m. MT on TNT (simulcast on HBO Max).
A Colorado man died on Tuesday when a boulder fell on him and crushed him. That’s according to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, who identified the man as 59-year-old Paul Frasch.
Frasch is a resident of Silverthorne. The sheriff’s office says he was walking in an area along the Arkansas River in Buena Vista in the middle of the day with his coworker when rocks fell and hit him.
According to investigators, the boulder that landed on Frasch weighed at least 1,000 pounds.
The coworker received injuries to his arms after trying to help Frasch.
When first responders got to the scene, the boulder was still on top of Frasch. He was declared dead at the scene.
The Longmont City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to decline a request from the town of Superior to support its appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court in a long-running lawsuit over aircraft noise from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.
The decision comes about a week after the council met in a closed-door executive session to receive legal advice regarding Superior’s request that Longmont join an amicus brief supporting the appeal.
Councilmember Jake Marsing moved to adopt the city’s proposed response to Superior, and the motion passed 7-0 after a brief discussion.
Superior is seeking Colorado Supreme Court review of a Colorado Court of Appeals decision that found federal law prevents courts from ordering Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport to restrict aircraft operations because regulation of air traffic falls under the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Superior and Boulder County sued the Jefferson County-owned airport in 2024, arguing that training flights create excessive noise and lead emissions for nearby communities. While a district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2025, the Court of Appeals this year revived part of the lead contamination claim while upholding the dismissal of the noise-related claims.
In the statement adopted Tuesday, Longmont acknowledged it has also heard complaints from residents about airplane noise and said the city takes those concerns seriously. However, the statement said, Longmont’s position differs from neighboring communities because it owns and operates Vance Brand Airport.
“The city believes that local control over airport operations is important and these rights should not be taken by the courts,” the adopted statement reads. The city also said it is continuing efforts to address noise concerns through voluntary measures, including updates to its voluntary noise abatement procedures and a voluntary saturated pattern policy that limits the number of aircraft in the traffic pattern.
Mayor Susie Hidalgo-Fahring also noted the city is continuing discussions about its long-term vision for airport operations.
The statement leaves the door open for future collaboration with regional partners and the FAA but concludes that Longmont will not file an amicus brief with the Colorado Supreme Court at this time.
Before the vote, Councilmember Matthew Popkin asked City Attorney Eugene Mei to clarify for residents who, exactly, had provided legal advice to the council during the executive session. Mei said Longmont’s outside aviation counsel did not advise the city because that firm is representing Jefferson County in the appeal and therefore has a conflict of interest. Instead, the council received advice solely from the city’s legal staff.
Longmont’s decision contrasts with those of neighboring Lafayette and Louisville, whose city councils have approved joining an amicus brief supporting Superior’s petition. Broomfield has also indicated support for the effort.
Colorado
Erie Town Council approves sale of Colorado mineral rights for major oil and gas development
Erie Town Council approved the sale of its mineral rights to SM Energy Company during its regular meeting late Tuesday night. This will allow SM Energy to conduct its major oil and gas project within the Draco Pad well site that will stretch from Weld County into Boulder County.
With the plan falling into place for SM Energy, this will mark the future development of what is to become one of the largest oil and gas developments in the state.
According to the town’s press release, “The agreement provides for the plugging and abandoning of 17 wells, allows Town staff to conduct site inspections on the Draco Well Pad on a regular basis, transfers three parcels of land (for a total of 158 acres) to the Town of Erie, assigns a 3% share of revenue from the production of these minerals to the Town, and a cash payment of $4.5M will be made to the Town. SM Energy will gain ownership of mineral rights equal to roughly 182 acres, or 4.9% of the overall Draco drilling area.”
The agreement passed in a close 4-3 decision after it had recently failed in a 3-3 council vote June 16.
The state originally approved the Draco Pad well site development in 2025.
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