Elite Underclass QB Julian Lewis Talks Camp, Offer From Vols

2026 Carrolton (Ga.) quarterback Julian Lewis is one of the most recognizable underclassmen in America. Before playing a snap at the high school level, Lewis already holds 19 Division 1 offers, including Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Ole Miss, Penn State, and Texas, among others. After attending Tennessee's last camp of the summer in June, Lewis left with an offer from the Vols. Lewis discussed his recruitment, the offer from the Vols, and more with Volunteer Country. 

"I mean, it hasn't been bad," Lewis said of handling the early expectations already placed upon his recruitment. "The first couple of offers were big around the school because I am like one of the only people in my town with an offer. Just trying to stay humble through the whole process and I'm still like everybody else at the end of the day. Right now, I'm chillin, feeling good, just getting ready for the season with my team."

Lewis knows the pace of his recruitment will inevitably pick up, but at this early stage, he is just focused on looking at particulars inside of the schools he likes.

"Of course, you have like your top schools, I mean your favorites," Lewis said of this. "I've been watching football since I was a kid but of course, I'm picking stuff out. I'm coming to visit schools that I'm interested in and stuff like that."

Despite not having an offer from Tennessee at the time of their camp, Lewis still had an interest in the offense that led him to Knoxville for a visit.

"This is their last camp, so I've trying to come out here since their first couple of camps but timing with school and all, and the practices just didn't level out," he said of the decision to camp with the Vols. "We found out we could make this one after, we had Georgia yesterday, so it was like alright we'll come out here."

One of the reasons for Lewis's interest in getting to Tennessee was because of the drastic change in offensive production last fall under Josh Heupel.

"I mean last year they had a new coaching staff and their offense completely like changed drastically," Lewis said of this. "Like they went from like one-hundred and twenty-third to third or something like that. That was crazy, so that was something I had to check out. I couldn't pass this opportunity up to come out here."

Following the camp, Lewis impressed the Tennessee staff enough to earn an offer from them as well.

"It was a good feeling," Lewis said of earning the offer. "I appreciate the coaches recognizing my ability and how hard I work. Coach Heupel said he wants me to keep coming back and to get up for a game."

Tennessee's quarterback coach Joey Halze extended the offer to Lewis before he left the camp session, which allowed the two to work together.

"He's smart," Lewis said of his takeaway of Halze. "I mean he is really a trainer. He's fundamental, he knows what he is talking about. He's good people to talk to, too. He knows the game."

While it is early in the process, Lewis is taking a deep look at each program that has offered, and he knows what he is looking for in a school.

"I mean of course a team that's going to develop me for the next level," he said of this. "I mean at the end of the day my end goal is the NFL, that's the goal but like you said I do got a lot of time to like pick stuff out. A lot of stuff is going to move around by the time I'm ready to commit but for now it's just like building a relationship with all of the coaches, just going around, traveling, like seeing all the schools right now before I start narrowing it down."

Lewis plans to return to Tennessee for at least one game this fall.