Lew ready to be Mustangs’ next big guy on OL
By Anna Snyder
MDJ Sports Writer
Jay Finch was arguably the best offensive
lineman to come out of Kennesaw Mountain,
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and now it appears that Connor Lew
is ready to fill in his footsteps.
Lew, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound offensive
lineman, said he loves being compared
to Finch, who played his college career at
Georgia Tech.
“Just to be compared to someone that
was able to start at Georgia Tech, a Power
5 program,” Lew said. “That’s special.”
Lew said he has known Finch since he
was in eighth grade, and was coached by
him in middle school, when he first started
playing football.
Now, Lew is going into his junior year
at Kennesaw Mountain, and he is looking
to lead the Mustangs to another playoff
appearance under coach Caleb Carmean.
Carmean was able to watch Finch, who
earned honorable mention All-ACC honors
and was named to the watch list for
the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s
best center, play for the Mustangs in high
school, and he said the comparison of the
two players is almost perfect.
“Jay is very similar to Connor in the fact
that they are dominant on both sides of the
ball,” Carmean said. “What people don’t
understand is Connor plays a lot of defense
for us too, in critical situations. And Jay was
a very quiet guy who worked hard in the
weight room, and Connor’s the exact same
as far as that goes.”
The difference between the two players,
Carmean said, is Lew’s ability on the offensive
side of the ball.
“I think Connor’s a little more geared
toward the offensive side of the ball,” he
said. “Whereas in high school Jay was more
defensive minded.”
More than ever, Lew said he is ready to
prove he can be the next big offensive lineman
to come out of Kennesaw Mountain.
This season, he was nominated by his
teammates to be a part of the team’s leadership
council.
“At the beginning of the season, everybody
on the team gets a Google form where they
type in their top six players that they want
to lead the team,” Lew said. “So everything
from being picked is from my teammates.
So, they pick their top six and the top six
go through a process with coach Carmean.
If he thinks we’re fit for the job, we get it.”
As a leader, Lew said he is focused on his
team’s success, as well as his own.
“I just want to do the same things (as last
year), but a little bit more.” he said. “What
I did last year was great, but now it’s a new
year (and time to) do a little bit more.”
As for his team this season, Lew said he
is looking for it as a whole to do more, too.
“Last year, we lost in the first round of
playoffs so this year we’re not looking to
go back to the same exact thing,” he said.
“Let’s build off that and make a deeper
playoff push.”
So far, Lew has collegiate offers from
seven schools — Virginia, Virginia Tech,
Miami (OH), Ohio, Vanderbilt and West
Virginia. He also has an offer to follow in
Finch’s footsteps to Georgia Tech.
“I’ve never had a dream school,” Lew
said. “I’m interested in anybody that’s interested
in me, and wherever I think that
my future is going to be the best. That’s
what I’m going to choose ultimately.”
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind, especially
Carmean’s, that Lew has the potential
to be the next Finch out of Kennesaw
Mountain.
“Connor is a freak. He’s a quiet worker.
He just shows up and does what you asked
him to do, there’s no complaining. He’s a
great teammate, and he’s a great leader,”
Carmean said.
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