‘This is where it all started’: 25 years later, Damione Lewis happy to be back with Hurricanes
Damione Lewis walked to the lectern with an undeniable smile on his face.
“It feels great man,” Lewis said Thursday. “Just happy to be back at UM. This is where it all started.”
Lewis was a standout defensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes from 1996 to 2000.
Twenty-five years later — after a 10-year NFL career, nearly as much time away from the sport and then the past five years returning in the coaching ranks — Lewis is back at his alma mater as the Hurricanes’ defensive tackles coach.
He saw what successful UM football was like as a player. Miami went 43-17 during his tenure, winning at least nine games in four of those five seasons. The team was on probation early in his career due to sanctions from the NCAA stemming from lack of institutional control. This included the Hurricanes going 11-1 his senior year before they won their fifth and most recent national championship the year after his college career ended.
He eyes the chance to help them get back to their glory days.
“I came here as a young man from Texas, a young kid from Texas, and all I had was what my mom and dad taught me and had a group of guys, like 11 more of us that came in that class,” Lewis said. “We put our hard hat on, came through the probation period, and we turned this thing into a national championship football team before we left.”
How do the Hurricanes get back to that point? To Lewis, it’s about embracing what made Miami successful way back when.
“It’s always the same,” said Lewis, who turns 47 on Saturday. “It’s mind-set over matter. Obviously we have a tradition here. We have a culture here that started long before these kids were born. You talk about the Jerome Browns and the Russell Marylands in the world. They set a trend on how to play up front here, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We’re going to get back to playing that style of football where you knock back and be physical at the point of attack, ripping off blocks and running and being disruptive. That’s what the University of Miami is, and that’s what we’re going to get back to.”
That’s what Lewis did during his time at Miami. He finished his college career with 220 career tackles, 15.5 sacks and five forced fumbles over 43 games. He was first-team All-Big East and a third-team All-American by the Sporting News as a senior in 2000 after recording 39 tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles.
He parlayed that success into being a first-round pick, selected 12th overall in the 2001 NFL Draft by the Rams, and a 10-year NFL career in which he logged 277 tackles, 23.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and 16 pass deflections over stints with the Rams (2001-2005), Carolina Panthers (2006-2009) and Houston Texans (2010)
About a decade after his playing career ended, Lewis returned to football. He spent the 2019 season as FIU’s assistant athletic director of football/player development before shifting to coaching. He spent four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, first as their defensive line coach (2020-2021) and then as the defensive tackles coach (2022-2023). He shifted to the college side last season, serving as Colorado’s defensive line coach in 2024 before returning to his alma mater.
While Lewis acknowledges the differences between coaching in the pros and college, the fundamentals remain the same.
“Striking and playing with your feet and staying up and working your hands in the pass rush,” Lewis said. “It’s all good stuff and stuff that these kids want to learn. You want to learn how to be an elite pass rusher. You want to learn how to be an elite run stopper. Just learning those skills and Seattle [as a coach] and as a player. I obviously played for 10 years, but [it’s important] to translate that to them, to where they understand and get it and can apply that on the field.”
Lewis’ position group heading into spring practices, which start Monday, is led by Louisiana Tech transfer David Blay Jr., redshirt junior Ahmad Moten and sophomore Justin Scott.
Blay had 46 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks for Louisiana Tech last season. Moten moved into the starting lineup late last season and finished with 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Scott, a five-star recruit from the 2024 recruiting class, was used sparingly but is in line for expanded playing time if he takes advantage of his opportunity.
“You see talent there,” Lewis said, “but as far as being able to work with them, I’m excited for Monday for that. They’re here to play, and I want to see what they can do on Monday. I’m not coming in with any predetermined notion of who’s who and what’s what. You’re going to earn what you get here.”
.JPG)