To say that McAdams’ Percy Lewis is the big man on campus would be somewhat of an understatement.
Lewis, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 325 pounds, is the latest member of The Star-Herald Top 10 football players to watch.
The hulking junior is at the center of the resurgence of McAdams football after the Bulldogs went 5-6 last year and made the playoffs for the first time in 30 years.
This is the second of 10 installments of the Star-Herald’s 2018 Top 10 Players to Watch. The players were nominated by head football coaches at Kosciusko, Ethel, McAdams, French Camp and Central Holmes. The players were chosen by the Star-Herald sports staff and will be revealed one week at a time. Last week’s honoree was Antonio Harmon of Kosciusko High School.
No matter who it is on the McAdams campus, Lewis towers over them. That size has already drawn the attention of Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Jackson State and East Central Community College, while several other Division I schools are starting to inquire about Lewis.
“He’s a prototypical football player, he’s big man on campus,” McAdams coach Jim Risen said. “Percy is still young but if he will work and keep on working, he can write his ticket to wherever he wants to go. He has the size but also has good speed. He’s got what most players which they had and that’s size. He’s just so thick.”
While Lewis is well known on the McAdams campus, he often gets mistaken for for another large football player, former Ole Miss tackle Michael Oher, who was made famous by the movie “The Blind Side.”
“I get that everywhere I go,” Lewis said. “I went somewhere in Kosciusko today and somebody came up to me and asked me hold old I was. People tell me I look like the guy in The Blind Side. I can’t lie; I do like it.”
And like Oher, Lewis wants to make the most of the size that God has given him.
“First, I want to play college football and then I want to go all the way,” Lewis said. “I look at myself and say I’m too big not to make it to the pros. I say that to myself every day. I try to push everyone else around me to say the same thing.”
Lewis was proud of helping McAdams back to the playoffs last year hopes to lead the Bulldogs even further this upcoming season.
“It meant a lot to go to the playoffs because I can go back and say that we did this together,” Lewis said. “As a team, we made the playoffs for the fist time in 30 years. It’s a close group. We plan on going all the way this year, not just the first round. There are 21 of us. We text all the time. We are all in a group chat. We talk about football, going to the gym, when we are supposed to be here. The only way we have trouble is when someone doesn’t have a ride but if we have a way to go get them, we will go get them.”
Risen said that Lewis is just starting to realize his potential.
“He’s a giant who is getting there as a football player,” Risen said. “He’s still somewhat of a gentle giant but he’s getting there. He’s seeing what his potential can be if he keeps on working. We don’t have a lot of kids here that can challenge him. If we had a few more kids that could push him, he would be an animal. If he was at a Gulfport or Hattiesburg, that would help him out a lot.
That’s why I have pushed him to go to these camps because they are going to compete against other top kids. I took him to USM last year and they were really impressed with him and he was just going into his sophomore year.”
Besides football, Lewis was also on the basketball team and was on the track team. While Lewis came off the bench in basketball, he threw the shot put for the track team and finished second at the Class 1A meet last year.
Basketball and track coach Carl Hathorn was impressed with Lewis.
“When he got on the court, he probably averaged three or four rebounds in five minutes,” Hathorn said. “I wouldn’t say he was an experiment in basketball but he was raw and learning the game.
But when he got the ball, he was unstoppable. For a big guy, he’s got really good feet. He had an injury and wasn’t able to play as much as we would have liked. But I like for our kids to play multiple sports because we we are such a small school. But more than anything, he’s a great kid with a ton of potential.”
In track, Lewis said he should have came home with a the gold medal in the shot put.
“I finished second because I was really sore that day,” Lewis said. “I worked out that night and got up and worked out again that morning. I didn’t really think I was going to come up against somebody who could beat me. The next time, it won’t be like that. I’ll be ready the next time. He beat me by two inches. When I was standing on the podium to get my medal, I was like there is no way this guy beat me. I kept on saying, ‘I should have won.’ It gives me something to work for next year.”
