BCS National Championship: OU's Travis Lewis goes from sideline to spotlight
By Jake Trotter
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Published: January 7, 2009
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Without a freak accident, Travis Lewis would have watched this season from the sidelines.
If not for a freak accident, Travis Lewis would have watched this season from the sidelines. AP photo
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During preseason practice, starting weak-side linebacker
Austin Box was doing non-contact drills when he slipped and injured his knee. For a while, junior-college transfer
Mike Balogun worked with the first team. But the week of Oklahoma’s opener, defensive coordinator
Brent Venables decided to start Lewis.
"He was just the best option,” Venables said. "He was not quite as lost as the next guy.”
Not exactly a glowing endorsement.
But Thursday in the BCS National Championship, no player will be more important in stopping quarterback
Tim Tebow and the
Florida offense than Lewis, whom Venables now calls the best freshman linebacker he’s ever coached.
"He came from nowhere,” Venables said. "His improvement from then to now is remarkable.”
Remarkable is right.
The former third-stringer has 136 tackles and counting, breaking
Brian Bosworth’s school record for tackles by a freshman.
Lewis earned first-team Freshman All-American honors and was named the
Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year by the
Associated Press and the Big 12 Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches.
But in spite of the accolades, Lewis still hasn’t forgotten his preseason status.
And that, he says, has motivated him to work to be better.
"Things contributed to me starting; it wasn’t me being the best option,” Lewis said. "But I wouldn’t have it any other way. It taught me how to play with a chip on my shoulder.
"I still treat every day like I’m third on the depth chart. I think about it every day I wake up.”
Despite being a freshman, Lewis will wake up Thursday as one of the team’s leaders, a role he’s filled since linebacker
Ryan Reynolds went down with a season-ending knee injury against
Texas.
"What’s more remarkable is that he hasn’t had anyone since the Texas game to help him out,” said Venables, whose only returning linebacker from last season was Reynolds. "Travis takes everything upon himself. We’ve never had a freshman do that.”
The transition from role player to leader was far from seamless for the linebacker who at the season’s outset was nearly too lost to be trusted on the field.
On the first play at
Kansas State, two weeks after the Texas game, Venables signaled in a blitz. But Lewis made the wrong call.
"We had the Keystone Cops run into each other on a zone blitz,” said Venables, whose defense allowed a 15-yard completion on that play. "We went through a couple of games with real inconsistent quarters. But the checks and adjustments at the front, no one else except Travis could do.
"But it forced him to grow and mature as a player on the field mentally as much as anything and helped him to develop into an outstanding player by the end of the year.”
By late November, Lewis had mastered his new role. In a 65-21 stomping of No. 2-ranked
Texas Tech, Lewis had the game of his young career, recording 13 tackles and causing two turnovers — an interception and a forced fumble — that led to Sooner touchdowns.
"Travis has had a huge role,” said free safety
Lendy Holmes. "He stepped up a whole lot after Ryan went down. Every week he continues to get better and learn the game more.”
Lewis will play a critical role Thursday in containing Tebow, who throws like a quarterback but runs like a fullback.
Against Florida’s effective quarterback power run game, Lewis will be counted on to meet Tebow at the line of scrimmage and bring the 240-pound quarterback to the ground.
"He’s a pretty big guy and an athletic quarterback. He has the ability to find those holes and get in between those tackles,” Lewis said. "I’m looking forward to the challenge.
"I guarantee you I’m going to bring the hammer.”
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The adrenaline is pumping or its butterflys...
GO SOONERS!!!!