What makes Miami OL commit Connor Lew so good? He’s ‘going to take control of the unit’
The story of why Connor Lew decided to orally commit to the Miami Hurricanes last Friday is pretty similar to the ones each of the other four offensive linemen in Miami’s Class of 2023 tell.s
He credits the relationships with Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal, of course, and, above all else, their track record of developing linemen. When Lew took his official visit to Coral Gables in June, he watched a summer workout session and saw just how hands on Cristobal is with the offensive line and he was just about sold.
“It 100 percent was the development,” said Lew, who’s about to begin his senior year at Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia. “None of the schools on my top four had a head coach that was involved with the O-line, and coach Cristobal being an O-line guy and his daily involvement … all the practices I’ve been to, coach Cristobal was right next to coach Mirabal for pretty much all the drills.”
Although the Hurricanes aren’t done recruiting offensive linemen in the 2023 recruiting cycle, Lew, in some ways, represents a final, missing piece.
Bradenton IMG Academy’s Francis Mauigoa, a five-star prospect, and LaSalle’s Frankie Tinilau are clear-cut tackles. IMG Academy’s Antonio Tripp and Ocala Trinity Catholic’s Tommy Kinsler are probably guards at the next level. Lew, who’s a three-star interior lineman in the 247Sports composite rankings for the 2023 recruiting class, is a true center and has felt like one ever since he switched to the position in the middle of his sophomore season.
Lew’s center experiment started back in 2020, with his Mustangs off to an ugly start to a sub-.500 season and desperately looking for something to spark them into the second half of the year. As a freshman, Lew played right tackle, and Kennesaw Mountain didn’t win a single game. As a sophomore, he swung over to left tackle and it made little difference: The Mustangs lost four straight to start the year.
Late at night after his team’s fourth loss, Kennesaw Mountain coach Caleb Carmean called up Lew and pitched him on an idea: Would he be interested at all at moving to center? The Mustangs were a run-heavy team and tried to run behind Lew as much as possible. If Lew played center, Kennesaw Mountain could run behind him all the time.
“I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s try it,’ ” Lew said. “Once I moved to center, something just clicked.”
The change synced up with the Mustangs’ bye week, and Lew’s family went to the beach for a few days. Before Lew left, Carmean taught him the basics of how to snap a ball, so he would be ready to roll once Kennesaw Mountain got back to practice.
From the beach, Lew sent Carmean a video every day of him firing 100 snaps back to his father.
“He pretty much taught himself,” Carmean said.
The Mustangs won four of their final six games, and Lew picked up his first handful of scholarship offers in the following spring, then they won 10 games last year and Lew’s recruitment exploded. The 6-foot-3, 280-pound lineman spurned the Clemson Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs and Auburn Tigers to head to South Florida.
Altogether, Kennesaw Mountain has won 14 of 18 since Lew moved from tackle to center. Considering how few highly coveted linemen play center in high school, there’s a case to be made for Lew as the nation’s best prospect at the position and it’s part of why he’ll play in the All-American Bowl next year.
The position change plays to Lew’s strengths both physically — Lew said he’s more polished as a run blocker right now — and mentally.
Even though Mauigoa and Tripp are ranked higher than him, Lew is positioned to be the leader of this group down the road because centers usually have to be. Above all, Carmean pointed to this as Lew’s greatest strength.
“He’s always going to take control of the unit that he is a part of and I think it only makes sense for him to be a center with that,” Carmean said. “He’s a 4.4 GPA in the classroom and I would say if I had to give him a GPA on the football field it’d probably be about a 4.4 GPA.”
Miami’s nonstop recruiting success throughout the spring and summer has Lew excited, too.
If Lew’s going to lead a unit at the next level, there aren’t many better classes to team up with than the one the Hurricanes are putting together.
“That did play a little bit of a part for me in deciding Miami,” Lew said, “just getting the chance to be a part of such a great class and do things with them, and just be a part of what they’re building and just getting back to work with them.”
