The recruiting game can often be one of phone tag between prospects and college coaches, but even when the two parties do hook up, sometimes it’s still hard to work everything out.
Notre Dame assistant Charley Molnar and Plymouth, Pa., (Wyoming Valley West High School) wide receiver Eugene Lewis missed each other’s phone calls a couple of times before finally getting on the phone Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Lewis played receiver as a sophomore before playing quarterback in his school’s spread offense last season. As a 10th-grader, Lewis caught 31 passes for 800 yards and 11 touchdowns while rushing for 400 yards and throwing a pair of touchdown passes. He threw for 1,300 yards, ran for 1,200 and accounted for 30 total touchdowns as a junior.
Lewis currently has scholarship offers from Boston College, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin. On Wednesday night, Molnar told Lewis that the best way for him to earn an Irish offer would be to attend Notre Dame’s one-day camp later this month.
“He was asking if there was anyway I could down to the camp at Notre Dame,” said Lewis. “He was saying that the coaching staff likes my film, but they really like to get players down to their camp to see them in person.”
Unfortunately, Lewis doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it.
“As of right now, probably not,” he said. “He said he’s not saying he’s not going to continue trying to recruit me. He was just saying if I’m interested in them, he just wants me to keep in contact with them and if I could try to make the camp, that’d be great.”
Lewis plans on trimming his list soon and without an offer on the table, it could be difficult for Notre Dame to remain in the mix.
“I’m trying to make my top five by the end of this month,” he said. “I’m just in the process of checking out all of the schools and seeing what each one has to offer me.”
Penn State and Virginia Tech are likely to make the cut, but Lewis is still undecided on the other three.
“Penn State, I really like the coaches,” he said. “I like the places up there and everything they have to offer. I went to one of Virginia Tech’s practices and I love the way they practice. It’s just a beautiful place.”
Lewis plans on getting out to see a couple more schools before announcing his top five and - like he said - as of now, it doesn’t sound like South Bend will be one of those destinations.
