[July 22, 2011] Ex-Rusk player bids for playing time Tweet NACOGDOCHES, Jul 21, 2011 (Jacksonville Daily Progress - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The number of former Rusk Eagle football talents that are now calling the Southland Conference (NCAA Division I, Football Championship Series) home has increased by one. Horrace Lewis, who graduated from Rusk in 2008, is now a member of the Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) football team, which makes four-former members of the Red and Black that are suiting up for Southland institutions. The others are Quinn Anthony and Matt Friederich, who are Northwestern (La.) State University Demons, and John Trotter who is a member of the Sam Houston State University football squad. Following graduation, Lewis played football for one season at Bacone University, a NAIA school located in Oklahoma. A rib injury forced Lewis to the sidelines early at Bacone. He then returned to East Texas and choose to attend SFA as a student only, believing his football days were over. But Lewis would not stay away from the game very long. "After going through rehab, I decided to stay close to home and to continue my education at SFA," Lewis said in a telephone interview earlier this week. "When I got to SFA a couple of my friends encouraged me to try out for the football team." After sitting out last year due to NCAA transfer rules, Lewis is back in action again and is a member of the Lumberjack practice squad as a defensive back, one of two positions he played at Rusk. Lewis said he has made the transition to life at SFA just fine, but that there are two or three things that are much different for him. "The campus (at SFA) is much bigger than at Rusk or at Bacone, the classes are harder and the level of competition is much tougher," Lewis said. "But, I've settled in now and it (SFA) feels like home." "I had offers to attend Texas Southern University and Lon Morris after Bacone, but those opportunities just didn't seem to be a good fit for me. I feel lucky to have got the chance to play at SFA and I think that was about being in the right place at the right time." Lewis says that it is his goal to continue to improve and to be promoted off of the practice squad at SFA. The Lumberjacks are the defending SLC champions and are projected by several national magazines to once again being one of the league's elite teams in 2011. Lewis and the rest of the SFA team will return to campus in about two weeks to start preparation for the upcoming season. To see more of the Jacksonville Daily Progress, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Jacksonville Daily Progress, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]