There are several reasons for new Indiana defensive line coach Kevin Peoples to be excited about his inherited talent at defensive tackle. From Jerome Johnson to Demarcus Elliott to any of the young contributors, such as CJ Person and Sio Nofoagatoto'a – both who were mentioned directly by Peoples on his Zoom conference with the media Wednesday.
But one of the newest additions to Indiana’s interior defensive line, Damarjhe Lewis, has Peoples eager to get back to practice and begin the 2020 season.
“He is a dynamic player,” Peoples said. “He has the explosiveness, the twitch, and we think he’s a guy that can get into the mix next year.”
Lewis, of any of the early enrollees to practice in front of the media this spring, was the one that flashed the most and the most consistently. His jump off the line, which Peoples said is crucial to the style of defensive line play he coaches, seemed to be the most advanced tool of any of the early enrollees, and Lewis caused serious problems for offensive line rotations.
At 6-foot-3, 291 pounds, Lewis’ agility inside resembled real promise for what he could offer the defensive line in 2020, and he will likely be able to display his progress as a true freshman.
That progress was obviously stunted by the COVID-19 outbreak, which cut Indiana’s 15-practice spring camp to four practices, limiting the amount of time any of the early enrollees could spend with coaches and teammates during March and April.
“They would have to say they’re disappointed, because they came here with the intent of getting a full spring in, but that did not happen,” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said in April about early enrollees missing most of spring camp. “I will say that they will also agree that they did get more than they would have had before. They had a chance to get an eight-week cycle of lifting with our strength staff that they would not have had before. They got four full practices in with our team that they would not have had before. So, it's definitely still an advantageous situation for them compared to those who did not. I still feel like they would say it was a positive thing.”
Lewis likely benefited the most from those four practices, in terms of making a case to earn playing time during his freshman season.
“As an early enrollee, he was just trying to learn the ropes of what’s going on,” Peoples said. “Those four practices were huge for him. We wish we would have had 15, who doesn’t? We think he can be a really dynamic football player.”
This praise out of just four practices matches the prestige he brought to Bloomington via his recruiting profile – committed to Auburn for nine months and offers from LSU, Florida State, Oklahoma and others. His first step was a key attribute for why colleges recruited him in the first place, and he recorded 37 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, four sacks and two forced fumbles through seven games as a senior at Griffin High School.
It appears he will have a chance to jump the ranks of a deep Indiana defensive tackle position and translate that skill to the college level.
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