![]() On a cold snowy January day, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Robert Morris University Colonials football team announced that quarterback Caleb Lewis will be transferring from Louisiana State University to Robert Morris University. Whenever you transfer to a new school and a new city, things can be scary. Fortunately for Caleb Lewis, there was a familiar face in the locker room who helped him with that transition and that is Colonials head coach, Coach Bernard Clark. Coach Clark and Lewis go way back to Lewis’ high school career. “Me and Coach Clark have a really good relationship that goes back to high school”, Said Lewis. “He did my home visit back in my senior year, he’s known me since my junior year of high school, he’s from a really close area that I went to high school from so I’ve known him for a while”. Lewis brings leadership to the team and has lots of goals and knows how to achieve them. “I’m a very intellectual quarterback”, Lewis said. “I make very good decisions and I take care of the ball. I also pride myself on being a leader of creating a culture of very, very high level goals and the work ethic to prepare to reach those goals.And a passion for the game”. Lewis and the Colonials aren’t shy about what they want to achieve and they want to win the NEC and get to playoffs like any sports team but there are some things Coach Clark stresses to his players. “We’re not shy about it. We want to win the NEC and make playoffs”, Said Lewis. “That’s the reason you play the game, to make playoffs and games. That’s one thing Coach Clark harps on is that you have to take it one day at a time, one play at a time and one game at a time and think about it in one week chunks. Thinking about practice and being here now in the moment and taking care of what you can take care of and the results will follow”. The transition from LSU to RMU has been an interesting one for Lewis. There are a few things he’s still adjusting to and the weather is number one. And football is football no matter the weather or the town you play in. “It’s very cold, not going to lie and trying to play in that kinda took me a little longer than I thought”, He said jokingly. “I’m not used to the snow and I don’t think I ever will be, being from Florida and then living in Louisiana. Football is still football. The field is still 120 by 53 ⅓ and you still got 11 on 11 so you can try to create differences but you still have your teammates, you still have your band of brothers that you go to war with. It doesn’t change all that much”. Another thing Lewis had to get used to are the minor changes in passing. “Like I’ve said before, it’s still football and a lot of things are doing what you’re coached to do and executing” Lewis said. “In offense, a little bit different scheme in the passing game. I went from an area read to a full field progression scheme. Luckily for Lewis, the changes in coaches isn’t a big transition since both Coach Canada for LSU and Coach Clark have many similarities. “They both have a ton of passion for the game”, said Lewis. “They’re also very big on discipline. Their day one meeting for both of them for the offense was ‘take care of all the non-talent issues. We’re going to be tough and we’re working hard, we’re giving maximum effort, we’re going to learn our technique, we’re going to line up right, we’re going to do all those things that don’t take any talent, we’re going to do those right and those are going to help us become a very good team, a great team”. Like any athlete, Lewis has some interesting pre game rituals. He makes up a new ritual each season. “I have very specific playlist that I make each season and I’m not really sure what I’m going to put on it for this year and I also don’t know what I’m going to do because we have turf on our home field, but I do a scene from The Gladiator when Maximus does before battle where he takes the dirt and rubs it on his hands and smells it, that’s one of my things I do” Lewis said. “I also pray along the sidelines and I also touch the turf every time I come on the field which are the major things.” Lewis is looking forward to winning with the Colonials during his time at RMU. “I’m excited to win. I’m excited to play ball. I’m excited to win with these guys, I’m really enjoying the team that we have and the guys that are here. Usually the biggest issue when a transfer comes in and whether he’s going to fit in with the team or not and they’ve been so welcoming and just embrace me. We’re having a great time, we really are”.
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