OU Football Numbers You Need to Know: Geno Lewis, No. 5
By Chip Rouse
Every new OU football season brings with it new faces and new players to get familiar with as the roster turns over.
Because it is hard to recognize and identify with football players on the field of battle other than by the number on their jerseys, we are providing Sooner fans a preseason heads up on the numbers associated with the players they should watch for and know something about prior to the start of the 2016 season and as the season progresses.
One of the newcomers who is expected to make an important contribution to OU football in 2016 is No. 5 on offense: wide receiver Geno Lewis.
Lewis is a graduate transfer from Penn State. If the wide receiver position and the Penn State connection sound familiar it’s because several years ago the Sooners welcomed another Penn State transfer to the roster. Justin Brown caught a career-high 73 passes in 2012 and was one of the premier return men in the Big 12 that season.
The circumstances behind the two transfers are a little different, but the Oklahoma coaches are hoping that Lewis’ presence will be as positive an addition to the Sooner offense as Brown was several seasons back. Brown’s journey to OU was precipitated by the Jerry Sandusky sexual misconduct scandal and the dismissal of Joe Paterno as head coach. As a result of that, Brown was able to transfer and play immediately at another school without having to sit out a year.
In Lewis’ case, he has already received his degree from Penn State. Because he still has a year of eligibility remaining, he is able to change schools under the NCAA graduate-transfer rule and play somewhere else immediately. This is similar to what quarterback Russell Wilson (now QB of the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL) did when he played his final college season at Wisconsin in 2011 after graduating from Maryland. This also is what former OU quarterback Trevor Knight did in transferring to Texas A&M.
“Through the summer, he’s been able to get more comfortable with what we’re doing…You can see he’s a guy that’s been out there in the fire.” –OU head coach Bob Stoops on Penn State transfer Geno Lewis
Lewis will wear the number that wide-receiver Durron Neal, the Sooners’ third leading receiver a year ago, wore the last several seasons. Lewis has a big year his sophomore season at Penn State, with 55 receptions for 751 yards. He didn’t see as much playing time in 2015 with the rapid rise of sophomore sensation Chris Goodwin, who took over the lead receiver role for the Nittany Lions. Lewis had just 17 receptions last season for close to 200 yards.
Lewis’ presence was relatively low key in the Oklahoma spring game earlier this year as he was becoming familiar with the OU offense and getting acclimated to his new team environment, but he has been singled out multiple times by Sooner coaches for looking impressive in the opening days of preseason training camp, according to Tulsa World sports writer Cody Stavenhagen.
“We may have missed that (in the spring),” head coach Bob Stoops told Stavenhagen at the annual “Meet the Sooners Day” on Saturday. “Through the summer, he’s (Lewis) been able to get more comfortable with what we’re doing…Again, you can see that he’s a guy that’s been out there in the fire.”
“He’s really mature,” said OU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. “You can tell this is a guy that traveled halfway across the country to come here and have a great senior season.”