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Planning to sign with the University of Tennessee football program on Feb. 1, Archbishop Hoban senior LaTroy Lewis met the Vols' new defensive coordinator last Thursday.
AKRON, Ohio – Sal Sunseri is the new football defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.
Hired away from the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide one week ago, Sunseri was at Archbishop Hoban High School on Thursday afternoon getting acquainted with future Tennessee Volunteer defensive end LaTroy Lewis.
Lewis, listed at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, is expected to sign with the Vols on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
“I stay in contact with them just about every day and things are running smoothly,” said Lewis, a Hoban senior and currently a member of the Knights’ 8-2 basketball team.
Sunseri, an All-America linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1980s and a former NFL assistant with the Carolina Panthers, is reportedly going to implement a 3-4 base defense for the Volunteers and head coach Derek Dooley.
“It matters to me in a positive manner,” Lewis said. “The way I play and with my body type – a 3-4 kind of suites me a little better. I’m probably more of a 3-4 backer than I am a 4-3 end. So, I’m excited for the change.”
As a sophomore for Hoban and coach Ralph Orsini, he burst onto major-college recruiting lists with 13 sacks in 2009.
The following season, Lewis was credited with 96 tackles and nine quarterback sacks. Last fall, he broke a bone in his foot during the second game of his senior campaign and missed the remainder of the season.
“It’s all about getting through adversity and finding other ways to help your team without playing,” he said.
Lewis has made a complete recovery and has had no problems midway through the basketball season.
His football teammate, Greg McMullen, is committed to the University of Nebraska program and also is expected to ink his National Letter of Intent on National Signing Day for NCAA Division I football.
Lewis plans to major in nursing at Tennessee.
“I get a lot of crap for that, but for the past three years I’ve been really set on that,” he said. “I am excited. Tennessee has a really good nursing program and I’m hoping to excel.”