[LeeCoUKFan]

Junior college lineman could join Cats late

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Fullerton Community College is home to defensive tackle Melvin Lewis, a late-blooming lineman that could be making a big decision soon.

Until recently it wasn't clear that Lewis would have the opportunity to be a student-athlete at the BCS level.

The 6-foot-4, 320-pound tackle told Cats Illustrated over the weekend that his grades have improved significantly and he appears good to go.

Given the fact that the Wildcats did not sign a full class earlier this month UK has room to add more players.

"I got the Kentucky offer on Thursday of last week," Lewis said. "I got it from coach Jimmy Brumbaugh. It was sort of out of the blue. My grades are up to par and I've got that together. We talked and everything worked out pretty good.

"He's told me they're making a big change there. Worse comes to worse I'd redshirt this year and come back as a starter for the following year. Actually, right now I am thinking about committing to Kentucky."

Lewis' birthday is March 11 and his goal is to sign a letter of intent on that date or sometime around it.

He claims offers from Washington, Miami and Hawaii in addition to Kentucky.

After registering 41 tackles (26 solo) and 3.5 sacks at Fullerton C.C. last fall schools started taking notice. Coming out of high school in Compton (Calif.), Lewis was hearing from schools like Hawaii, UNLV and San Diego State.

"Since high school I improved a lot on my hands and getting better at concepts of the game. In high school I only played three years. My first year I barely played and then my 10th grade year my grades were horrible and I thought of myself as a basketball player," he said with a laugh.

"I stopped playing but I came back in my 11th and 12th grade years. I've learned a lot but I still think I'm a little bit raw."

Lewis said he has spoken with Brumbaugh "four or five" times. He has not spoken with other members of the coaching staff yet but Brumbaugh.

The junior college defensive lineman said he and his coach are supposed to set up an official visit to UK sometime this week.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1476634