The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/100796
Mattison? What���s the defensive coordinator doing intermingling with the eating machines from the other side of the football? ���He always messes around and says offensive linemen are his favorite,��� Lewan said. ���I���ll call that bluff nine times out of 10. He���s just a great individual. He���s awesome to learn from. He���s been everywhere, and done all the right things. ���These guys are not only coaches, they���re mentors. That���s how everyone on this team feels. No one is upset with these coaches. We trust them with everything we do ��� every play call they make, every technique they teach. Everything they tell me to do, I���m going to do it.��� Lewan laughs over the ���milliondollar question,��� regarding leaving sunny Arizona for a land where, he quips, ���you get like three days of sunlight ��� ghosts walking around.��� He did so, he insists, because he wanted to be part of something great. For most of his high school days, he couldn���t have imagined getting that opportunity. He swears he wasn���t always big. ���I was six pounds when I was born,��� he said. ���I was a real little guy.��� Lewan quickly grew into the tallest kid in his class, though, the ���tall, lanky kid who really couldn���t control his body but hoped for the best.��� He tried to make his mark on Mattison���s side of the ball. ���All through high school I played nose tackle,��� Lewan recalled. ���It was awful. You go on YouTube, type my name in, and you���ll think, there���s no way this kid is at Michigan right now. It���s me running in front of the guy in front of me, hitting him, looking around, and then chasing after the ball. Not a lot of anything going on.��� Following his junior season, Lewan transferred from Cave Creek Cactus Shadows to Chaparral, where he became an offensive lineman. The practice battles with Roh proved epic, the two recalled. ���Things clicked, and you kind of have to force yourself to be good when you play against a guy like Craig your senior year,��� Lewan said. ���He was No. 16 in the country, coming in. I���m hoping to get an offer, and Craig���s coming in kicking my ass every day. You���ve got to learn to be good real fast.��� Lewan is knowledgable about U-M's history of championship success through the years, and he also knows all about Michigan's tradition of great players on the offensive line. Photo by Per Kjeldsen Roh cautioned that Lewan was plenty good enough to prompt some severe disengagement tactics. Although he hit it off right away with the new kid ��� sharing the same humor, music, etc. ��� Roh got frustrated trying to get away from him. ���Always,��� Roh recalled, laughing. ���We still get ticked off at each other, almost every day. I think he���s holding me, I punch him in the stomach. It���s stuff like that. ���In high school, he was holding me one time, and I can���t get away from him. I���m like, I can���t get away from him, so what do I do here? So I punch him five times in the gut. He just looked really surprised. That���s happened four or five times, me punching various things on his body when I can���t get off him.��� With every punch, Lewan strikes a blow for QB protection and defensive end irritation. He likes that, and appreciates where the Wolverines are headed. ���Michigan is slowly, but surely, becoming Michigan again,��� Lewan offered, with quiet determination. And that���s a flag he can salute. ��� November 2011��� ������ the wolverine��� 31