Safety Isaiah Lewis out of Ben Davis High School (Indianapolis) pledged to Michigan State today, becoming the tenth recruit in the 2010 class. Rankings, measurables, quotes and where he'll fit in at MSU can all be found after the jump.
RANKINGS:
- Rivals: 4*, #14 safety, #213 overall
- Scout: 4*, #22 safety, #234 overall
- ESPN: Grade of 77
The recruiting services all seem to agree that Lewis is one heck of a player. His offer sheet shows it as well, he had at least 13 offers from schools such as Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky.
MEASURABLES
- 5'11". 186-190 lbs.
- 4.44 40 time
- 290 lb. Bench Max
- 430 lb. Squat Max
- 36" Vertical
The only thing I'm curious about is his 40 time; Rivals lists it as a 4.4, while Scout lists it as a 4.68. A third source from a combine in Indianapolis lists it as 4.44. That seems legit to me, so that's the one I'm going to list.
Mike Kirschner, Lewis's coach from Ben Davis had nothing but laudatory things to say about him in this article from the Indy Star:
"He's put some good muscle weight on and has gotten faster," Kirschner said. "He's already pretty good and now we need him to be even more of a leader. He's not only a good football player, but is very good academically."
The article also mentions that he has a 3.20 GPA and wants to study engineering in college. Football thus will be the perfect outlet for him, because I know whenever I'm in the middle of designing a distillation column, there are times when I want to knock the life out of something. Apparently Isaiah likes to hit as well; this is one of the quotes he gave after a playoff win last year:
"You could see on their faces that they were tired of getting hit," Lewis said. "We just kept trying to take it to 'em."
I've found in the massive amounts of research done on football that if the guy on defense knocks down the guy with the ball on offense, that action results in a benefit for the defense. I'm still not sure though, the R-squared value on the scatter-plot I've constructed (read: dot-to-dot picture on a placemat from a Perkins') looks a bit iffy. One more item of interest - Lewis is a baseball star as well, he made all-county honorable mention as a sophomore in the outfield.
Where will Isaiah fit in at Michigan State? It surely looks like he'll be slotted in at safety (if I had to guess which one, I'd say strong), and with Danny Fortener and Kendell Davis-Clark both graduating this year, he might have an outside shot at the two-deep as a freshman. However, those chances looked a lot better before Roderick Jenrette was reinstated, so in 2010, he'll be battling with then seniors Jenrette and Marcus Hyde, junior Trenton Robinson, redshirt sophomore Brynden Trawick and pending a redshirt decision, redshirt freshmen/true sophomores Denicos Allen and Jairus Jones. I'd guess he gets a redshirt to start his career in East Lansing.
This leaves most likely two spots for the defensive backfield in 2010, one for a corner and one for a safety. Dion Mathis, Latwan Anderson and Kurtis Drummond are the three targets Michigan State has locked in on for those two spots, and getting two of three out of that group would be an awesome secondary class for 2010. Michigan State needs to replenish the depth of the secondary it will graduate in the coming years (Ed. Note - duh.), and getting a four-star safety certainly satisfies that need.