excerpt from dnj article:

...Offensive lineman Jamaal Lewis (6-foot-4, 280 pounds) has inked scholarship papers with MT after originally signing with University of Alabama-Birmingham on National Signing Day in February.

Lewis practiced in shorts with the Blue Raiders Tuesday, as he must complete a five-day NCAA-mandated acclimation period. He has already been certified by the NCAA Clearinghouse and will be admitted to MT pending acceptance of his final transcript.

"He's a real good player, and we recruited him at South Carolina," Stockstill said. "When we got (to MT), he hadn't qualified, so we didn't continue to recruit him. Then he got qualified right before signing day and signed with UAB. ... Well, UAB oversigned and couldn't take him, so they called us to see if we were interested and we were."

Lewis, who won't turn 18 until late in MT's season, was a standout at Butler High in Huntsville, Ala. He was named to The Huntsville Times Super All-Metro team the past two seasons and tabbed honorable mention as a sophomore. He was also named to Huntsville's All-City squad three straight years and All-Region twice.

According to the official UAB athletic Web site, Lewis received recruiting interest from South Carolina, Louisville, Memphis and Alabama before signing with the Blazers...


Middle Tennessee inks freshman offensive lineman

Rivals has him rated as a three star recruit. This will be a huge boost to MT's OL if not this year (I hope we can keep a redshirt on him this fall) in coming years.