Retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis shocked the nation this past week, announcing through his agent that he will be returning to college for one full year, and will walk onto Loyola University Maryland’s lacrosse team for the 2015 season.
The future Hall of Fame linebacker attended the University of Miami for three years before forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL Draft, where he was selected with the 26th-overall pick in the 1996 NFL Draft.
With one year of college eligibility still remaining, the motivational and fiery athlete will join a very successful lacrosse program at Loyola that won the National Championship two years ago, right before Lewis won his second Super Bowl with the Ravens.
In fact, Lewis is already familiar with Loyola’s lacrosse program, as he spoke to the team prior to one of their games toward the end of their championship season.
“I’m glad to be a Hound,” Lewis said. “I still have unfinished business, and I’m hoping to bring another lacrosse title to Loyola.”
According to sources, Lewis had wanted to come to Loyola to play lacrosse after high school, but he figured he would have a better career playing football, which kind of worked out for him.
Lewis will undoubtedly strike fear into the hearts of opponents the same way he did in the NFL, and will make Loyola the team to beat in the nation. He is expected to play both sides of the ball, and should be among the nation’s leaders in goals as well as takeaways.
Lewis plans on leading the nation in every statistical category possible, on both offense and defense.
“That Nikko Pontrello guy is a great player, but I expect to be the leading scorer next season,” Lewis said.
Lewis’ presence on the team will certainly bring a lot of attention and press to Loyola’s lacrosse games next year. Attendance will rise, as almost every Ravens fan will likely be buying tickets to watch the former football legend dominate on the lacrosse field.
There have been questions about whether or not Ridley Athletic Complex will be able to seat all these people. Discussions have even begun regarding tearing down Ridley and building a new complex to seat these new fans, but that’s a totally different issue.
Lewis is not the first NFL player with excellent lacrosse skills. Jim Brown, arguably the greatest running back of all time, had a legendary lacrosse career at Syracuse University, before ultimately pursuing football. Of course, Jim Brown did not return to college to play lacrosse after his Hall of Fame NFL career was over.
Ray Lewis is shattering the mold and will without a doubt make history for Loyola’s lacrosse program. The news is so stunning, that ESPN and NFL.com are too amazed to even mention it. We beat them to it.