Iowa football: Five biggest recruiting busts in the Kirk Ferentz era
By Andrew Wade
Jermelle Lewis
Jermelle Lewis is the one guy on here who had some decent production but just never reached the high expectations bestowed upon him due to injuries.
Lewis was a 6’1” 215-pound four-star recruit from Connecticut, and he was one of the biggest recruits Kirk Ferentz had reeled in at the time. A top-100 recruit, Lewis joined the Iowa football team after one year with Kirk Ferentz at the helm.
It would be two years before he saw any game action as he redshirted in year one and was ruled academically ineligible his second year. Year three in the Iowa football program, however, was the best season we would see from the talented running back.
During the Iowa football team’s fantastic 2002 season, Lewis rushed for 709 yards and 8 touchdowns on 123 rushing attempts. Unfortunately, that would be the high point of Lewis’ Hawkeyes career. The following two seasons, he would be limited to just ten games total because of ACL injuries.
Bust might be a tough term to use on a guy who just couldn’t rid himself of the injury bug, but when you’re a top-100 recruit going to a team known for rushing the ball effectively, the expectations are much higher than 1,150 career rushing yards.