TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It had been a long time coming. After sitting out all of last season with a torn ACL, Alabama linebacker Terrell Lewis donned full pads last week and set out to hit someone for the first time in roughly 13 months.
The unfortunate victim was redshirt freshman offensive lineman Tommy Brown.
“That play's pretty interesting,” Lewis said with a laugh. “You should ask Coach about it. It was just my first pass rush in a minute, so I kind of wanted to be a little more physical than I have been.”
For those concerned, the 6-foot-7, 317-pound tackle is doing just fine.
“Tommy's good,” Lewis said holding back more laughter. “Tommy’s good.”
Given Alabama’s recent bug with injuries, Nick Saban might be a bit gun-shy about seeing two of his players crashing into each other so hard during practice. However, not even the head coach could complain while watching his prized pass-rusher return to his typical hard-hitting self.
“Nah, Saban don’t say anything,” Lewis said smiling. “He ain’t going to kiss nobody’s ass. That’s Saban. Actually, he was right in front of it, so it’s kind of like he just saw it and was like, ‘Oh, whatever.’”
Lewis’ good mood comes as he’s finally back to 100 percent. Last season’s injury was the second of back-to-back setbacks for the redshirt junior, who also missed 10 games during the 2017 season after he tore a ligament in his elbow during the season-opener against Florida State.
During that season, the 6-foot-5, 252-pound outside linebacker was able to return in time for Alabama’s run in the College Football Playoff. That included his first career start against Georgia in the national championship game where he tallied a career-high seven tackles including a crucial overtime sack in the Crimson Tide’s 26-23 victory inside of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Lewis and Alabama will make a return trip to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 31 as the Crimson Tide is set to open its season against Duke in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. The star linebacker is saving the rest of his big hits for then.
“I know I’ll be excited,” Lewis said. “I’ll probably have some pre-game jitters, stuff like that… I’m just, like I said, taking it day by day. When it happens it will come. But Atlanta, I feel like that’s my home field, so I don’t really get too much pre-game jitters when I’m there. I feel like I’ve been there more than Bryant-Denny.”
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Andrew Bone, of BamaInsider.com, is a real estate broker in the state of Alabama.
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