Dion Lewis Scouting Report

As a freshman in 2009 Dion Lewis burst onto the national scene. He was the first Big East player since Michael Vick, back when Virginia Tech was in the Big East, to win the conference Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. On the year Lewis rushed for an impressive 1,799 yards on 325 carries with 17 touchdowns. He also caught 25 passes, one resulting in another trip to the end zone.

After such a superb season in 2009, Lewis had high expectations in 2010. Some were even talking Heisman. However, Lewis got off to a very slow start and fellow back Ray Graham started to take away some of his carries. Yet, by the end of his sophomore season Lewis was getting back to his old form. He capped it off by running for 105 yards and a score in the BBVA Compass Bowl victory over Kentucky. Lewis finished the year with 219 carries for 1,034 yards and 13 touchdowns. In just two years at Pitt, Lewis tallied 2,860 rushing yards and ranks fourth on the school's career rushing list.

Three years out of high school, Lewis is eligible to leave school and enter the NFL Draft. The departure of Coach Dave Wannstedt probably made Lewis opt to leave Pitt. Lewis has obviously been very productive in college, but he is not extremely fast and is only 5-8 and 195 pounds. He has room to grow, but most NFL teams will not take a chance on him until the fourth or fifth round.

3/27 Update: Lewis had a very disappointing showing at the NFL combine and ran just 4.57 and 4.62 in the 40-yard-dash. He does not have the size to run that slow and many NFL teams began to wonder why he left school early. However, Lewis performed much, much better at Pittsburgh's pro day and showed that he is a good athlete who can be a very elusive playmaker. One good showing is not enough to move Lewis into the top four or five rounds of the draft, but with time he could be a late round steal.