Tennessee football: ETSU transfer Austin Lewis an underrated addition for Vols

Amidst all the talk surrounding Tennessee football adding USC Trojans transfer wide receiver Bru McCoy and Ohio State Buckeyes transfer defensive back Andre Turrentine, it’s understandable if you didn’t think about an FCS transfer from right up the road. However, he’s could be a huge get.

Defensive end Austin Lewis, who has spent last year with the ETSU Buccaneers, has transferred to the Vols as a preferred walk-on. Lewis was with the Liberty Flames from 2018 to 2020 and now has one year of eligibility remaining.

Standing at 6’6″ 270 pounds, Lewis hails from Davy Crockett High School in Jonesborough, Tenn., which is in Washington County in the northeastern part of the state. He announced his commitment to Tennessee football Wednesday on Twitter.

Despite playing for an FCS school last year, Lewis’ resume suggests he’s ready to play for the Vols. The guy is entering his fifth year of playing college ball, and his production through his first four, three of which were at the FBS level, stand out.

Lewis was a freshman All-American in 2018 by the Football Writers Association of America. He then was a fixture in Liberty’s rotation over the next two years. Last year, he only played four games due to a knee injury, which is the only major concern surrounding him.

Over his first two years at Liberty, Lewis had 13 tackles for a loss, six sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, two pass deflections and 58 tackles, 29 of which were solo. He only appeared in four games in 2020 before transferring and only appearing in four games again.

Before Liberty’s coaching change, his transfer and his injury, Lewis looked like a promising star at the FBS level. If he can get back to that, then Tennessee football will have truly gotten an elite steal at the position.

Technically, he’s a defensive end, but Lewis’ size suggests he’d play the hybrid defensive tackle role in Tim Banks’ system, which Ja’Quain Blakely and Caleb Tremblay both ran last year. Losing them is leaving that position wide open, so adding a guy like Lewis makes sense.

Of course, since he is an edge rusher, he could provide depth to the part of the defense that features Byron Young, Tyler Baron and Roman Harrison. However, it would make more sense to move him into the hybrid defensive tackle role.

Either way, Lewis is much better than he would appear as a walk-on from an FCS school, and he could address a big need for Tennessee football. As a result, he’s an extremely underrated pickup for the Vols