INDIANAPOLIS — Roger Lewis always imagined he would be right here at the NFL scouting combine.
He could not have fathomed the path.
Three years after the former Bowling Green State University receiver stood trial on rape charges — a murky case that interested NFL teams have exhumed this week — Lewis looks to make continued good on his second football life.
The one-time star Ohio State recruit who spent two years in football purgatory before landing in Bowling Green in 2014 could be the Falcons’ highest draft pick in nearly four decades. Lewis is projected as high as a third-round selection, where the Browns took former BG quarterback Mark Miller with the 68th overall selection in 1978.
“This experience this week is a blessing,” Lewis said Thursday before his workout at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Lewis is the most touted of the five Mid-American Conference prospects — including Toledo wideout Alonzo Russell — auditioning here.
He is polite and disarmingly confident, questioning not whether he is ready for the NFL after two years of college but whether the league is ready for him. Asked if he looks forward to seeing if he measures up against the best players in the world, he smiled.
“Oh, no sir, not at all,” said Lewis, a Pickerington, Ohio, native. “I know my natural ability is going to go a long way.”
Before he can look forward, though, he has to keep looking back.
At a time when the NFL is more sensitive than ever to domestic abuse and sexual assault, Lewis is among the most scrutinized players in the draft. He said every interested team has grilled him about his past.
Once a four-star prospect in the Buckeyes’ 2012 recruiting class, Lewis’ scholarship offer was dropped after he was charged with two counts of rape. He was accused of raping a high school classmate in the basement of a friend’s house in December, 2011, then again in the back seat of her car in January, 2012. Jurors reportedly heard a recorded interview in which Lewis told police that the woman said no about 15 times during their encounter in the car, but that he saw it as part of their role-playing.
Lewis was acquitted of one count and a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial on the second count. He pleaded guilty to falsification — a first-degree misdemeanor — before the second trial.
Lewis has maintained he was falsely accused, saying the sex was consensual with an on-and-off girlfriend who was jealous he was also involved with another girl.
“That whole situation came up because of me messing with another girl,” he said. “A girl can get mad. ... That made me wiser. Now that I’m in the National Football League, it’s going to get 10 times, 20 times worse, so why not have that one good girl? That whole situation, it really made me wiser, made me think about who I need to surround myself with, just evaluate girls even more.”
Asked if he bore any responsibility in the case, he replied, “No sir, I made no mistakes. I don’t regret anything in that situation.”
On the field, the 6-foot, 201-pound Lewis’ talent is indisputable. In his second season with BG last year, he was a second-team All-American after catching 85 passes for 1,544 yards and 16 touchdowns.
His goal now is proving he is more than a product of the Falcons’ speedy offense. While he mostly burned opponents deep at Bowling Green, he has spent the past month in Irvine, Calif. expanding his repertoire. His throwing partners just happen to be the top two quarterbacks in the draft — North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and California’s Jared Goff.
“I want to run more digs and more NFL routes, to be honest,” Lewis said.
Russell, meanwhile, is just hoping for his NFL shot.
The 6-4, 206-pound Washington native was a four-year starter for the Rockets, earning third-team all-MAC honors his first three seasons and second-team recognition as a senior.
Chances are Russell will not be drafted, but there is time yet to make an impression. He played in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Carson, Calif. last month and hopes to capture attention at the combine.
“I’ve just been dreaming and hoping and wishing for opportunities like this,” he said. “I’m ready to take full advantage of it.”
Contact David Briggs at: dbriggs@theblade.com, 419-724-6084 or on Twitter @DBriggsBlade.
First Published February 26, 2016, 5:35 a.m.
