Last year as a junior, Isaiah Lewis was thrust into a starring role within Colorado's defense at STAR backer and safety when Chris Miller went down with an injury during the season-opener against UCLA.

Within a few games, he had racked up an impressive five pass breakups, ending the condensed 2020 season with eight, a team-high.

With a successful 2020 season under his belt and leading into the 2021 campaign, one for which Lewis was selected as a preseason All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention by the conference's beat media, he has emerged as a leader for the Buffs within the defensive backfield.

"In previous years, I was playing more of a special teams role so (last year) was definitely a confidence boost for myself, getting the plays and a feel for the real speed of playing DB during a game," Lewis said. "It was a game changer. I would say it made a big difference and also in my ability to be a leader. I’m carrying that confidence to both my play and also helping those around me.”

Coaches took notice of Lewis' growth in the offseason, from winter lifting sessions, through the spring and entering the summer as fall camp approached.

"He knew what our expectations were of him coming out of the summer and going into fall camp and he’s maintained that and has been one of our leaders during the summer," safeties coach Brett Maxie said.

"Coach (Shannon) Turley mentioned that he was one of the guys our younger kids and even some of the older guys in that room counted on. He just made some big strides coming out of the season."

Lewis was also tied for on the Buffs last year in third down stops, recording eight such tackles, trailing only senior inside linebacker Nate Landman.

In 2021, Lewis hopes to further polish his game when it comes to stopping the run and the pass, as well as become more of a vocal leader on the field when adjustments need to be made quickly.

“I was always looking to make improvements in my communication, my ability to lead and then finishing plays: both tackling and interceptions are a huge emphasis for me this year," he said. "Looking back and seeing what I could (be better) at, I would say finishing plays both in the air and on the ground.”

For Colorado's safeties in general, a goal of the position group is to become more injury-proof by developing more robust depth.While on-field injuries can't exactly be avoided fully — guys going down is just an unfortunate part of the game — fostering better depth to ensure that the next man up is ready to enter the game.

Junior Curtis Appleton knows that all too well; he wound up plugging home holes at safety last year like Lewis did in the aftermath of Miller's injury and was placed on scholarship at the end of CU's spring ball largely to what he displayed on the field in 2020.

“Chris got injured last year and I had to step in," Appleton said. "If somebody gets injured this year, somebody (else) has to step in, so we all have to be — your team is as strong as your weakest link, as they say. So, you want everybody to be good and at the same level of competition so if somebody goes down, it doesn’t fall off."

As camp continues on, Maxie will look to ensure that as many of his safeties as possible are game-ready and able to step in if needed.

Along with Miller, Lewis, Appleton and Mark Perry, freshmen Toren Pittman and Trevor Woods are also being looked at as guys who could contribute early on.

Last year, Pittman was a special teams standout, leading Colorado with 10 total points while Woods has earned the praise of Maxie and some of his upperclassmen position mates for learning CU's playbook fast.

Time will tell who's ready and who's not, as well as how playing time will wind up being distributed, but at face value, Colorado seems to be building some decent depth at safety.

“I feel really confident about, JuCo transfer Trustin Oliver said. Any of the guys can step in and make plays — we have a lot of playmakers in there, all the guys.”