MiQuale Lewis
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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MiQuale Lewis (born MiQuale Maurice Lewis on June 8, 1987, in Fort Wayne, Ind.) plays running back for the Ball State University Cardinals in the NCAA college football tournament. Despite standing way below 6-feet and tipping the scale at 180, Lewis has been able to get away with his less-physically imposing presence with his shitfiness and quickness back in high school. Many people however doubt if he can have the same amount of success on the collegiate level against bigger, stronger, and faster defenders breathing down his neck. Unfortunately, Lewis hasn't been on the field much to prove himself because of injuries but from the perspective of the coaches of team's he has played against, they believe Lewis has enough skills to carry Ball State's ground game if he is able to stay injury-free.
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[edit] Personal Life
MiQuale Maurice is the son of Micheal Underwood and Yvonne Lewis. He also has one brother and one sister. Apart from his athletic accomplishments, Quale has also been praised for his work in the classroom. He had a 3.0 GPA in high school and continued to improve with a 3.5 grade-point average on the school’s 4.0 scale.
[edit] High School
Lewis attended high school at Fort Wayne Snider in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana where he was a three-year letterman in football and a four-year letterman in track and field. While running the sprints for Snider's track team, Lewis helped the Panthers win the state championship in the 400-meter relay.
On the football field, Lewis played under head coach Russ Isaacs and teamed with the likes of John Purdy, Travis Arnold and Jakeem Gregory, who like him signed with BSU in 2006. In his earliest days as a Panther, Lewis helped Snider earn a runner-up finish in the 2002 state playoffs then played a role in his team's semi-state runner-up finish in 2003. As a junior in 2004, Lewis sustained a broken ankle after the ninth game but still finished the season with 1,130 yards and 29 touchdowns on 113 carries in only eight appearances as Snider settled for a state championship runner-up finish. He returned in 2005 and helped the Panthers finish the regular season undefeated for the fourth consecutive year enroute to a 12-1 overall record and a sectional championship.
He was named as an all-conference, an all-area, and a Bloomington Herald Top-33 selection in 2005 in addition to getting his name listed into the Indiana Football Coaches Association Top-50. He finished his high school career recording 4,286 rushing yards and 72 touchdowns while averaging 10.3 rush yards per carry.
[edit] College
A two-star rated prospect, Lewis received minimal offers because he was conceived as being too small and too injury prone. Aside from Ball State, he was recruited by Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern and Louisville but no other school took a chance to offer him a scholarship other than BSU. He eventually committed to Ball State in September of 2005 and became the Cardinals' third verbal for the 2006 class.
[edit] 2006
As a true freshman, Lewis made his collegiate debut against Eastern Michigan and was third in rushing with 33 yards on 7 carries in the 38-20 victory over the Eagles. He matched his seven carries in the loss to Indiana the following week before leading the team with 56 yards on 9 carries in addition to a season best 5 receptions for 38 yards in the 10-point loss at Purdue. After a lackluster performance in the loss to North Dakota State where he had negative yardage on only 1 attempt, he came back and once again led the team with 14 carries for 79 yards in the 28-40 setback to Northern Illinois. At Buffalo, Lewis turned out a season-high 99 yards rushing on 10 carries, including a 6-yard scoring rush to help the Cardinals snap its 4-game skid with a 55-25 win over the Bulls. Unfortunately, the Buffalo game turned out to be the last for Lewis for the season as he sustained a shoulder injury. Incredibly, Lewis still finished his rookie year as the team's 2nd leading rusher, amassing 280 rush yards on 48 carries with 1 TD in six games.
[edit] 2007
Lewis returned in January and was ready by spring, competing in the Cardinal and White Game where he had a one-yard score in the 28-0 win for the White team. During the fall, Lewis got the nod to start at the half back spot and made his starting debut at Muncie where he led the team in rushing with 25 carries for 91 yards to go with 4 receptions for 27 yards in the 1-point setback to Miami (Ohio). He continued to lead the team in rushing in the next three road games, recording 73 yards and 1 TD off 21 carries to go with a season high 85 yards on 2 catches in the 38-16 win at EMU, then established a career high of 161 yards on 27 carries with 1 receiving TD in the 3-point win at Navy (to earn the Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week award), before tallying a second straight 100-yard game with 122 yards on 19 carries with 1 scoring run in the heartbreaking 1-point loss at Nebraska. The loss to the Huskers practically turned out to be his last game of the year as he suffered an ACL tear in that game. He returned momentarily against Toledo but only played sparingly. He ended his sophomore season racking up a second-leading 447 rushing yards and 2 TDs on 92 carries in five outings and four starts.
[edit] 2008
In the season-opening win over Northeastern, Lewis continued to lead the team in rushing, collecting 95 yards and 1 TD on 11 carries in the 48-14 win. Against Navy, he turned out his first 100-yard game of the season with 114 yards on 21 carries in the 12-point victory. After registering 154 yards and 2 TDs on 28 carries in the win at Akron, he broke his personal bests in carries (29), rushing yards (166), and scoring runs (4) to help BSU tally its first win over a Big Ten team with a win over in-state rival Indiana. His performance against the Hoosiers also earned him his second career MAC West Offensive Player of the Week accolades. Against Kent State, Lewis rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns to led the Cards to a 41-20 victory. At Toledo, he registered his fourth multiple TD game of the season when he scored back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter and rushed for a total of 157 yards on 31 carries in the 31-point shut-out win that gave the Cardinals their first AP ranking in their 84-year history. At Western Kentucky, he tallied his 6th consecutive 100-yard game with 112 rushing yards and a TD on 18 carries in the 24-7 Ball State victory. Against Western Michigan, he was held under 100 yards for only the second time of the season after carrying only ten times for 75 yards and a 52-yard TD in the 38-16 win. Against Northern Illinois, he chipped in 119 rushing yards and a TD to help Ball State record a 45-14 victory and move himself into a second-place tie with Bernie Parmalee for most total touchdowns in a single-season with 15. At Miami, he tallied 165 yards and 2 TDs on 26 carries as Ball State improved to 10-0 for the first time in school history with a 31-16 win. At Central Michigan, Lewis was named the MAC West Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in the season after rushing for a career high 177 yards on 28 carries, helping the Cards keep their undefeated streak going with a hard-earned 31-24 triumph. Against Western Michigan, he was handed off a career high 32 times for 120 yards and 3 TDs in a 45-22 win that gave the Cards the MAC West championship. His scores improved his season total to 20, breaking Mark Bornholdt’s 1979 record for most rushing touchdowns in a season while yardage moved him into sixth-place in career rushing yards.
Prior to the MAC title game, Lewis got selected into the All-MAC first team. Against Buffalo for the conference championship, Lewis rushed for 131 yards and 2 TDs on 30 carries with season highs of 9 receptions and 77 receiving yards as the Cardinals fell, 24-42, for their first loss of the season. His production made him the school's all-time single-season leading rusher while establishing a couple more BSU single season records in 100-yard games (11) and points scored (132). In his first bowl game appearance, Lewis was limited to only 35 rushing yards on 16 carries as Ball State bows down to Tulsa at the GMAC Bowl, 13-45. He ended his junior year with 322 carries, 1,736 yards, and 22 scoring runs.
[edit] Highlights
| MiQuale Lewis leads Ball State to an upset win over Indiana. (2008) |
[edit] Career Stats
| Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
| Year | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD |
| 2006 | 48 | 280 | 5.8 | 54 | 1 | 5 | 38 | 7.6 | 11 | 0 |
| 2007 | 92 | 447 | 4.9 | 43 | 2 | 11 | 154 | 14.0 | 77 | 1 |
| 2008 | 322 | 1736 | 5.4 | 64 | 22 | 35 | 325 | 9.3 | 46 | 0 |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- All-MAC First Team
- CFN Midseason Second Team All-American
- ESPN Helmet Sticker (vs. Indiana)
- Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Indiana, vs. Central Michigan)
- Phil Steele 1st Team All-MAC
- Phil Steele 4th Team All-American
[edit] 2007
- Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Navy)
