Alabama Football: Top 5 breakout candidates for 2019 season
By Dakota Cox
Terrell Lewis seems like he shouldn’t be a candidate for this list, but the truth is that he’s only recorded one sack in his career at Alabama. Injuries in his past two seasons have kept him from showing his potential, but there is no reason to think he won’t have an amazing season this year. It might not be as big of a surprise, but it will be a vast improvement on what he’s done so far.
With Christian Miller in the NFL, Lewis will slide right into the starting lineup. He will play on the other side of Anfernee Jennings, another great pass rusher. With so many threats on the defensive line, Terrell Lewis will get to go one-on-one against a lot of offensive tackles, and he should be able to get some sacks because of this.
Lewis has the potential to get double-digit sacks in his junior season. That’s how good he is. If he was healthy, Alabama would have played a lot better against Clemson and their potent offense. When Christian Miller went down, there wasn’t much that Alabama could do in terms of pass rush.
The biggest question with Lewis is whether or not he can stay healthy. He has had major injuries in the past two years. He appears to be fully healed, but some players are just injury prone. A third injury would cement his legacy as an injury-prone player. There is a lot of potential for Lewis, but he has to get on the field to prove himself.
If Lewis stays on the field for the entire season, he might even get close to 15 sacks on the year. It’s just about whether or not he will be able to stay healthy in 2019.