The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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first highlight moment, not by a long shot. He remembers watching his older cousin, Kevin, playing high school football, and falling in love with the game before he hit kinder- garten. "I was about 3 or 4 years old," Lewis recalled. "It just felt right when the ball was in my hands." It's felt that way ever since. Lewis' first highlight moments went to tape when he'd reached age 5, playing flag football for the Ros- eville (Mich.) Broncos. His mom's friend used to videotape the games, and he still remembers watching those early efforts. Linda Lewis, a schoolteacher, saw a special talent in her son from an early age. Instead of fearing the sport like some mothers do, she encour- aged him to pursue it with a whole- hearted commitment. "She's an amazing lady," Lewis reflected. "She's a single mom, just taking care of me and my sister. She's the one that got me to football try- outs when I was 4 years old. She was a very strong influence. "She helped me keep my passion. She taught me that: Don't ever let anything go ahead of football, except for school." She had her limits, however. About the time her son hit the eighth grade, it was becoming fashionable in some sectors for star athletes to try and get themselves held back a year, so their talents would look even more resplendent among their new peers. Linda Lewis wasn't having any of that. Her son would keep up, in school and on the football field. "I cried, because I wanted to be the No. 1 player in the country," Lewis recalled with a grin. "She told me, 'Don't ever look down on yourself. Don't ever think you're not good. Just keep pushing, and keep work- ing hard.'" He did just that, getting hands-on attention in high school from Cass Tech defensive coordinator Jermain Crowell. By then, Lewis had shifted his focus from playing the offensive skill positions to shutting them down. Crowell proved instrumental in that effort, Lewis insisted. "He taught me everything about corner, and just playing defense," Lewis said. "He taught me a lot of things to keep my head level." Those days also marked the gene- sis of his ever-growing ability to lock down receivers, he noted. "That's what we did at Cass Tech," Lewis said. "We always just manned up and got their best receiver. It's a great challenge. That shows the qual- ity of your corner. That's the main thing I take pride in." He's been asked to do so more and more as the season has progressed. His eyes light up when describing the challenge, consisting of a hawk- like glare at an opponent's hips, when a lesser corner might be duped by footwork fakes. Defenders call it eye discipline. That's only the beginning of the battle. It goes to early hand-to-hand contact at the start of the route, and culminates in positioning and recov- ery speed to turn potential big plays into negated efforts. Lewis has done it better than any