Bengal tackle Collin Lewis followed unique path to Division I opportunity
by Brad Bugger for the Idaho State Journal

The great thing about football is that every player comes with his own unique story.

Perhaps none more than that of Idaho State defensive lineman Collin Lewis.

Having graduated from Carbon High School in Price, Utah in 2019, Lewis was a cocksure 18-year-old who two weeks after graduation, headed for boot camp and an experience with the Marines that would forever mold his outlook on life.

“I was a cocky kid in high school — not proud of that,” said Lewis, who signed with Idaho State out of Snow College last December. “After joining the military, it really humbled me. I’m thankful for that. What I learned from the military is that nobody’s better than anybody. Everybody comes from different walks of life, and you’ve just got to respect them.”

Lewis’ “walk” was a circuitous route through four years in the Marines. He went from surviving a suicide bomber attack in the Middle East to walking onto the football team at Snow College and earning a Division I scholarship at a position he’s only played for one year.

In his first spring camp at Idaho State, he’s already earned a leadership role in the Bengal defensive line room.

“The reason why I love Collin so much is that he brings a mentality you can’t replicate,” said Ricky Ali’ifua, who coached Lewis at Snow College and is the new defensive line coach at ISU. “He’s been through things, he’s seen some things that some of these guys could never imagine. He’s just built a little bit differently, he’s wired a little bit differently and his experiences play a role in that.”

Lewis began his football career as a 200-pound running back and middle linebacker at Carbon High School in Price, Utah. He weighed about 220 pounds through his early years in the service, where he worked as a motor transport operator, driving and maintaining semi-trucks. Then he was deployed to Kuwait for five months, and then spent a month in Kabul as part of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan.

It was in Kabul on Aug.26, 2021 that a suicide bomber attacked the airport, killing 182 people, including 13 U.S military personnel.

“I was probably like 100 yards or 200 yards away, so I wasn’t in the initial blast, but I did see the aftermath and it wasn’t pretty,” said Lewis. “After that, I’m kind of like, ‘I’m done with this. I want to go and play football.’ “

After leaving Afghanistan, Lewis spent the final year and a half of his military service at Camp Pendleton in California, all the while planning on how to resume his football career. In August of 2023, he took leave from the Marines and traveled to Ephraim, Utah, where he tried out for the Snow College football team. He made the squad, but missed three weeks of fall camp because he still had to complete his military obligation.

“I got out of the military on Aug. 12, 2023, and the next morning I had football practice at Snow,” Lewis said. “So it was pretty crazy.”

Now up to about 250 pounds, Lewis played guard his first season at Snow. Then Ali’ifua entered the picture.

A four-year defensive lineman for Utah State, Ali’ifua spent four years on NFL rosters before taking a “pause” in his football career. He worked as an account executive for a Utah software company before deciding he wanted to get into coaching. He arrived at Snow in the spring of 2024 and saw potential in Lewis as a defensive lineman.

Meanwhile, Lewis took the advice of his coaches, who told him he needed to bulk up further if he wanted to play at the next level.

“It was tough at first,” said Lewis, who now weighs about 315 pounds on his 6-foot-1-inch frame. “My body reacted a little bit differently, my knees hurt a lot. But I was never going to make it to the D-1 level as a running back. They (his coaches) told me I was quick enough to get to the next level if I played D-line, so I was like, ‘OK.’ I was lucky enough to get a great coach like Coach Ricky (Ali’ifua). He was able to teach me the right way the first time.”

After his initial season on the defensive line, Lewis was committed to another four-year school when Ali’ifua called and told him he was taking the job at Idaho State.

“I said, ‘Oh dang, that puts me in a predicament because I want to play for you,’ ” Lewis said. “So I ended up switching over to come here. It was a great decision because Coach Rick is a great coach.”

With practically all of Idaho State’s experienced defensive linemen leaving after last season, and the Bengals switching to a four-down lineman base defense from last year’s three-man front, Ali’ifua has a complete rebuilding job in front of him.

“Certainly when you lose the experience that the d-line room lost that’s hard to replace,” Ali’ifua said. “To be honest, that’s almost impossible to replace. The only way to get experience is to just get thrown in the fire and let’s see what happens and how you’re molded. From that standpoint, we’re not going to have that experience, so there are going to be some growing pains.”

Ali’ifua is grateful for the structure of ISU’s spring practices, which is giving his inexperienced charges multiple live game repetitions against an Idaho State offensive line that is expected to be one of the best in the Big Sky Conference this season.

“The reason why I like the set-up we have right now in terms of spring ball, is we are playing a lot of football,” Ali’ifua said. “A lot of live reps, which is only to the benefit of my guys. We are probably the group that needs it the most. Is it real game experience? It’s not, but that is as close as you can get to it, especially here in April.”

So far, Ali’ifua is excited about the potential of his young defensive linemen. He praises the pass rush potential of senior defensive end Maka Tu’Akoi, Snow College transfer Easton Cook, and Davidson transfer Cam Willis, the run-stopping ability of Weber State transfer Bronson Childs, and the young athleticism of sophomore Jake East. And then there is Lewis as the rock in the middle of the defensive front.

“He’s still young in the position, he hasn’t played it very long,” said Ali’ifua. “Literally, it’s been a year to this month that he’s been playing defensive line. I like what’s he done. It think it’s really impressive, but it only excites me more for the future because the more reps he gets, the more opportunities he gets to play, to apply the teaching, the more he’ll grow within the game and within the position.”

Lewis and the rest of Ali’ifua’s charges will get the chance to show their stuff in ISU’s Spring Game that will be played Saturday at 2 p.m. in the ICCU Dome. Lewis, who is studying secondary education and wants to be a teacher and a coach, is looking forward to some real hitting on Saturday.

“I think there are going to be some good hits,” said Lewis. “I think we’re going to get after it. It’s going to be full live so everybody is going to be ready to hit. There are going to be some good tackles, so everybody should come out and watch.”

That physicality is just what Ali’ifua is looking for from his defensive linemen on Saturday.

“I think my biggest emphasis to them was, No. 1, I gotta see you flying to the ball,” Ali’ifua said. “No matter where the ball is, no matter whether you think you’re going to make the play, we need to be swarming. So that’s the biggest thing we’re pushing, along with violence and urgency showing up in every rep we take. ... Each rep that we take that we put on film should be screaming, ‘I’m violent and I’m urgent.’ Effort, violence and urgency are really the biggest things that I’ve been promoting to my guys.”