BOULDER – There’s a lot of dawg in the heart of Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis.

Her name is Coco.

And she’s the canine love of his life.

“I’m a girl dog Dad,” Lewis confessed, as we walked toward Folsom Field, where JuJu will get his shot to break all the records of everyone from Kordell to Shedeur and all the legendary QBs that CU fans know on a first-name basis.

You probably already know Lewis as the next big thing in Boulder.

He’s the blue-chip recruit who decommitted from USC and chose to play his college football for coach Deion Sanders instead of Ohio State, Georgia or any elite program in the country.

“I love everything about the kid, and he’s going to soar,” Sanders said of Lewis, who doesn’t celebrate his 18th birthday until next month. “When it’s his turn, trust me, you’re going to know and he’s going to soar.”

But before he throws his first touchdown pass for the Buffs, what you need to know about Lewis goes beyond the viral soundbites and clickbait headlines.

If you truly want to discover a man’s ability to lead, watch how he treats all creatures great and small.

It’s a 10-pound dog named Coco that helped Lewis grow into a young man far wiser than his years..

“Coco has a special place in my heart. That’s my baby. She came with me to Colorado. I couldn’t be without her,” said Lewis, wearing his No. 10 jersey, fresh and clean for his first team photo with the Buffs.

Already famous, Lewis is grounded, humble and grateful, in no small measure because a little dog that almost died made his heart grow bigger.

“There’s nothing like the feeling of possibly losing a dog you love,” he said. “I cried.”

And Lewis couldn’t imagine his life without Coco.

At age 15, when he was already a high-school football phenom back in Georgia, it was love at first sight for Lewis when he spied a miniature Dachshund puppy.

They were instantly besties. Inseparable. Even when the maturation process suddenly made Coco miserable and dang-near insufferable.

“Oh, my goodness. It’s the worst. And I think every girl dog Dad knows what I’m talking about,” Lewis said. “Thank God I got her fixed. But before that? The crying at night. She was unable to sleep. It was a blessing and a curse.”

Coco gave Lewis a gift he never saw coming. A young adolescent who received his first scholarship offers before scoring a touchdown in high school saw clearly that the world doesn’t always revolve around him.

“Watching the pain of her first period, I had to man up and take care of her. Coco made me grow up fast,” Lewis said. “But it was worth it. You have to love that little wiener dog.”

In the macho world of football, Lewis is comfortable enough in his own skin to reveal a tender heart.

“Coco recently got really sick. And I almost lost her. She was almost gone,” said Lewis, recalling a health crisis that hospitalized his pet and shook him to the core. “But the vets nursed her back to health.”

The Lewis family spent more than $10,000 to save Coco.

The blessing of her survival inspired the young CU quarterback to establish his first charitable cause. Coco Cares is a fund created in partnership with Humane Colorado to assist families unable to afford life-saving medical treatment for a pet.

“I know what it’s like. It was a terrible experience,” Lewis said. “With Coco, I felt like my little sister was in the hospital. So I want to help people who are going through the same thing with a pet.”

With the season opener for Colorado a little more than two weeks away, Sanders has been coy about who will replace his son as the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback.

It doesn’t, however, require a deep dive between the lines to read Sanders’ thinking. Coach Prime is always in win-now mode.

So it seems to make sense Kaidon Salter, a fifth-year senior who threw for nearly 6,000 yards for Liberty before transferring to CU, will be the quarterback breaking the huddle for the Buffs’ first offensive snap against Georgia Tech on Aug. 29.

But in the era of the name, image and likeness, where every football decision is also a business decision, it’s also hard to believe Lewis won’t get playing time early and often as a freshman.

“JuJu, he’s a real funny guy,” Salter said. “Sometimes, he does things and you’ve got to remind yourself he’s a 17-year-old kid. At the same time, he’s a hilarious dude. He’s fun to be around. He’s a competitor. He throws the ball with so much confidence.”

The next big thing in CU football is a girl dog Dad.

And that’s a very good thing, because being a girl dog Dad has prepared Lewis to ignore the noise and nonsense to focus on what matters most in his heart.

“I’ve learned,” Lewis said, “that grown men cry more about their dogs than just about anything. You can be vulnerable with your dog. And that’s nice.”