Another day, another possible contributor in the secondary. Antoine Lewis was one of our last recruits in this class, switching his commitment in early December from Minnesota to Purdue. Naturally, Minnesota fans did not like this very much, but they have been annoying me of late anyway.
Antoine Lewis - Fr.
Hometown: Chicago, IL (Proviso East HS)
Cornerback
5'10" 180 pounds
2010 Projection: possible player at cornerback
My name is speed.
In day two of practice yesterday coach Hope cited the freshman corners as players that stood out. Lewis is among this group where we are hoping to find 3-4 regular contributors. Honestly, the competition is so wide open that he could play later if someone like Michael Eargle or Charlton Williams isn't making the cut.
Lewis was a track athlete in high school and also played some receiver, catching 16 touchdown passes in his last two years. That tells me he knows how to go get the ball and what to do with it once he has it. As a three-star prospect he had some pretty good offers, and Purdue's was good enough to sway him away from Minnesota. Like so many other guys, he brings a ton of speed to our defense. That link to Buck Bravo's blog has video of his high school achievements. The Gopher Hole was also kind enough to do an interview with him after his commitment, so I'll borrow from that as well.
Lewis may be good enough to play immediately, and that would make our game with the Golden Gophers just a little more interesting. Everything I read about this guy is speed, speed, speed. Our new secondary may have to rely on speed at first as they learn the aspects of the college game. That speed can erase some mistakes too.
Boilermakings Notes:
GoldandBlack.com - 'Big steps' on Day 2; Sunday practice notebook
IN the day 2 update it looks like Peters Drey is the current center, but Al-Terek McBurse still needs some seasoning. Trevor Foy is also making some noise.
Carson Wiggs had a nice tweet about John Finch and Kris Staats: 
carsonwiggs
Not the greatest day for me today, but picked it up during the end. Team is lookin really good so far. @finchmachine and staats are perfect!
Boiled Sports: Football players preparing to play football on the football field (and notes)
As always, Boiled Sports provides a nice rebuttal to MGoBlog's statements from last week. let the blogwar begin!