One national football analyst believes the Indiana football program has a legit shot at landing five-star QB Julian Lewis. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)
The Indiana football program is coming off of a busy weekend in which it hosted one of the highest-ranked prospects … ever. Five-star quarterback Julian Lewis took a visit to IU on Sunday and now, some of the wind on the recruiting trail could be heading Indiana’s way.
The main question surrounding Indiana’s involvement with Julian Lewis is, why Indiana football? The connection with new quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri — someone Lewis has known since his childhood.
So what are people saying just a few days post-visit? All good things.
“Not what I would have expected to say 48 hours ago but I’m going to give them (Indiana) a shot,” 247Sports National Analyst Tom Loy said on Thursday. “Honestly, I’ll just call my shot at this point, I don’t see USC keeping him (Julian Lewis) in their class.”
Lewis, the former No. 1 player in the 2026 class, announced last month that he would be reclassifying to the 2025 class. While he’s committed to USC, he’s been very open about his recruitment not being shut down and that includes interest in the Indiana football program.
In addition to Indiana, he also took a visit to Georgia over the weekend.
“I’m not ready to write off Indiana,” Loy continued. “I talked to somebody today. That Tino Sunseri — that relationship is very real. And let’s be honest, when he (Lewis) steps on campus, there’s nobody else that is going to keep that dude from playing in year one. He’s that special of a talent. So I’m not ready to write them off. People were making it very clear to me today that relationship means a lot … relationships matter to a lot of these guys and JuJu is one of those guys where it carries a lot of weight.”
Lewis is as talented as they come. In two high school seasons, he’s thrown for 6,952 yards with 93 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions. This past season he had 3,094 yards with 48 touchdowns and just two interceptions, per MaxPreps.
The five-star quarterback is the No. 8 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite Rankings for the 2025 class.
Here is the full show. The segment on Lewis comes at the 49:05 mark.
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Alec Lasley is the owner of Hoosier Illustrated, a comprehensive site covering news, updates and recruiting for Indiana University athletics. Alec has covered Indiana for six years and is a credentialed media member. He has previously worked for both Rivals and 247Sports.
