Dion Lewis

Dion Lewis
No. 28     Philadelphia Eagles
Running back
Personal information
Date of birth: September 27, 1990 (1990-09-27) (age 21)
Place of birth: Albany, New York
Height: 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Weight: 195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
College: Pittsburgh
NFL Draft: 2011 / Round: 5 / Pick: 149
Debuted in 2011 for the Philadelphia Eagles
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
  • BBVA Compass Bowl MVP (2010)
  • Meineke Car Care Bowl MVP (2009)
  • Second-team All-America honors (2009)
  • National Freshman of the Year honors (2009)
  • CollegeFootballNews.com Offensive Freshman of the Year (2009)
  • Freshman All-America honors (2009)
  • Big East Conference Rookie of the Year honors (2009)
  • Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Year (2009)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 15, 2011
Rushing attempts     11
Rushing yards     44
Touchdowns     0
Stats at NFL.com

Dion John Lewis (born September 27, 1990) is an American football running back for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at Pittsburgh.

Contents

Early years

Lewis was born in Albany, New York, where he attended Albany High School, from which he transferred to the Albany Academy and later to Blair Academy.[1][2]

College career

During twelve regular season games of the 2009 season, Lewis accumulated 1,640 rushing yards rushing and 17 rushing touchdowns.[3] He rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns in an October 2009 victory over Big East rival Rutgers for which he was named Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Week and featured in Sports Illustrated.[4][5] Following this and later performances, he was mentioned in several news outlets as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate.[6] Lewis had his sixth 100-yard plus rushing game of the season against Syracuse.

He rushed for more than 1,799 yards during the 2009 season and broke Craig "Ironhead" Heyward's record at Pittsburgh for rushes in a single game with 47 against University of Cincinnati in the Big East Championship game, totaling 194 rushing yards, three touchdowns, as well as five catches for 34 yards.[7]

Lewis was the only freshman and one of four running backs named among 15 "Players to Watch" for the 2009 Walter Camp Player of the Year award.[8] He was also among 16 semifinalists for the Maxwell Award,[9] and was one of ten semifinalists, and the only true freshman, for the Doak Walker Award.[10] Lewis was also honored as a "Midseason All-American" by CBSSports.com and SI.com.[10]

Lewis set the Big East freshman rushing record previously held by Tony Dorsett.[11] The lightly recruited running back was third nationally in rushing (1,799 yards, 5.5 avg) and broke LeSean Mccoy's record for most points by a Pitt Freshman on December 5, 2009 for the Big East championship against the Cincinnati Bearcats.[8] He broke Dorsett's record for most rushing yards by a Pitt freshman during the 2009 Meineke Car Care Bowl, after which he was named the game's MVP.[12]

Following the conclusion of the regular season, Lewis was named the National Freshman of the Year by the Sporting News and CBSSports.com,[13] as well as the Offensive Freshman of the Year by College Football News.[14] He was also named a second team All-American by the Associated Press, Sporting News, CBSSports.com, Sports Illustrated, Rivals.com, and Scout.com.[15] Lewis was the only freshman named to the first or second AP All-American team.[16] Lewis was named both the Big East Conference Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year[17] as well as the Eastern College Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year.[18]

Heading into the 2010, the Sporting News, in its 2010 College Football Yearbook, called Lewis "the game's most complete runner" and listed him as one of the five leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy.[19] The Sporting News also listed Lewis as a first-team preseason All-American.[20] Early January, Lewis declared he would enter the 2011 NFL Draft and forgo his junior and senior seasons.

College Stats

Year Team Att Yards Average TDs Receptions Yards TDs
2008 Blair Academy
Attended Blair Academy
2009 Pittsburgh 325 1,799 5.5 17 25 189 1
2010 Pittsburgh 219 1,061 4.8 13 27 216 0
College Totals 544 2,860 5.3 30 52 405 1

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

Lewis was selected with the 149th pick in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. He was signed to a four-year contract worth $2.2 million on July 27, 2011.[21]

References

  1. ^ James Allen Lewis commits to play for Pitt The Times Union June 20, 2008
  2. ^ Brendan Prunty Blair Academy product Dion Lewis making instant impact for Pitt The Star-Ledger October 12, 2009
  3. ^ ESPN player profile
  4. ^ Tom Canavan Dion Lewis rushes for 180 and 2 TDs as Pittsburgh finally beats Rutgers October 17, 2009 AP
  5. ^ Beech, Mark (2009-10-26). "Highlight Show". Sports Illustrated 111 (16). http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1161598/index.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-30. 
  6. ^ Paulk, Ralph (2009-10-22). "Pitt's Lewis ignores Heisman hype". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh, PA). http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/college/s_649262.html. Retrieved 2009-10-30. 
  7. ^ Box Score ESPN
  8. ^ a b "Lewis Named Walter Camp Award "Player to Watch"". Pittsburgh Panther Official Athletic Site. 2009-11-17. http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/111709aaa.html. Retrieved 2009-11-18. 
  9. ^ Dunlap, Collin (2009-11-04). "Pitt's Lewis, WVU's Devine both Maxwell semifinalists". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010881-100.stm#ixzz0VwBevnJI. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 
  10. ^ a b Paulk, Ralph N. (2009-11-12). "Pitt's Dion Lewis semifinalist for Doak Walker Award". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_652880.html. Retrieved 2009-11-12. 
  11. ^ Bennett, Brian (2009-12-02). "Pitt's Lewis defies all freshmen standards". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/blog/NCFNation/post/_/id/14670/pitts-lewis-defies-all-freshmen-standards. Retrieved 2009-12-02. 
  12. ^ Zeise, Paul (2009-12-31). "Meineke Bowl Notebook: Lewis named MVP, tops freshmen rush list". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09361/1023942-233.stm. 
  13. ^ Cirminiello, Richard (December 8, 2009), "2009 CFN All-Freshman Team: Offense", College Football News, http://cfn.scout.com/2/927275.html 
  14. ^ "Football Continues to Garner Impressive Postseason Individual Honors". Pittsburgh Panthers.com. 2009-12-15. http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121509aaa.html. Retrieved 2009-12-16. 
  15. ^ CBSSports.com 2009 All-America Team, CBSSports.com, http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/12633439, retrieved 2009-12-08 
  16. ^ Zeise, Paul (2009-12-16). "All-America Team: Pitt's Lewis honored by AP". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09350/1021216-233.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-16. 
  17. ^ "Pitt garners top Big East football honors". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). 2009-12-09. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09343/1019642-100.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-09. 
  18. ^ "Pitt's Dion Lewis gets another honor". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). 2009-12-18. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09352/1021988-100.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  19. ^ "Sporting News calls Dion Lewis "game's most complete runner"". PittsburghPanthers.com. 2010-06-01. http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/060110aab.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
  20. ^ "Pitt's Lewis, Pinkston and Penn State's Wisniewski garner All-American honors". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA). 2010-06-10. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10161/1064659-142.stm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  21. ^ Caplan, Adam (July 27, 2011). "Adam Caplan's Twitter account". Twitter. http://twitter.com/#!/caplannfl/status/96299435365105664. Retrieved 2011-07-27. "I'm told the Eagles and 5th rounder Dion Lewis reached 4 year deal worth just over $2.2 mill." 

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