Tommylee Lewis tempers excitement with caution as he resumes a Northern Illinois football career put on hiatus last year by injuries.
Sidelined for most of 2014 with a lower-body injury, the Huskies’ all-purpose wide receiver is in good health as he gets a second chance for a final college season starting Saturday against UNLV.
“I’m really excited; it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to play in a game,” said Lewis, a 22-year-old senior from Riviera Beach, Fla. “I’m more comfortable coming into my fifth year and more confident in everything I do. I’m a smarter player than I was before.”
But the 5-foot-7 Lewis said he has been wary of pushing too far, too fast during his recovery.
“The biggest challenge for me has to be not rushing things and being overexcited,” he said. “After missing a year … I tried to slow myself down.”
Lewis enters the season with 3,617 career all-purpose yards, 10th in school history.
“He’s back, he’s 100 percent,” coach Rod Carey said. “He’s stepped up in the leadership category too. … (And) all those things that aren’t vocal, he’s really stepped up with as well.
“I know everyone on the team has confidence when he’s out there.”
In 2013 Lewis earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors as well as All-America honorable mention from SI.com as an all-purpose player. He led the Huskies with 86 catches for 715 yards, was their No. 3 rusher with 359 yards, scored his school-record fourth touchdown on a kickoff return and even threw a touchdown pass.
Expectations were elevated for 2014, but Lewis was hobbled from the start and appeared in just two games. He was shut down after the Huskies’ 23-15 victory at Northwestern with what Carey called “a culmination of things that had built up.”
Lewis didn’t get any better and was granted a medical redshirt, preserving a final year of eligibility.
He and the Huskies face a UNLV team that’s a bit of a mystery under new coach Tony Sanchez, who guided a highly successful high school program at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas but has no college experience.
“It’s been a difficult preparation but one really that wasn’t unexpected by us,” Carey said.
NIU has won all four previous meetings, including last year’s 48-34 victory in Las Vegas.
Happy anniversary: NIU will wear 1965 throwback jerseys Saturday to help celebrate Huskie Stadium’s 50th anniversary. The 1965 team moved from Glidden Field to Huskie Stadium on Nov. 6 during a 9-0 regular season that ended with the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and an appearance in the Mineral Water Bowl.
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Jack McCarthy is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.