Get to know the newest Minnesota Viking Lewis Cine
Let's get to know a little more about Minnesota Vikings 2022 first-round pick Lewis Cine.
Deion Sanders was his coach in high school
He played his senior year of high school football for Deion Sanders, who was the head coach at Trinity Christian High School in Cedar Hill, Texas. Cine transferred to Trinity Christian after playing at his high school in Everett, Massachusetts.
Not only did he win a state title in Texas a senior, but he won a back-to-back state championships in Massachusetts in 2016 and 2017, and was named the Massachusetts Defensive Player of the Year by USA Today in 2017.
He was a big-time recruit in high school
He was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school and picked Georgia over offers from the likes of Michigan, Penn State, Texas and Florida.
He was the No. 3-ranked safety in the high school class of 2018. Daxton Hill, who was picked 31st overall by the Bengals, was the top safety in the class and Kyle Hamilton, who went 14th to Washington, was the No. 5 safety in that class.
He was the No. 7-ranked high school recruit out of Texas in 2018. The guy who was four spots behind him on 247Sports' rankings is current Gophers wide receiver Dylan Wright.
His hit on Kyle Pitts got him ejected in 2020
He was ejected from a game in 2020 for a targeting penalty when he hit then-Florida tight end Kyle Pitts so hard that both he and Pitts were concussed. Pitts was the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to the Atlanta Falcons.
He wants to 'break some other man's will'
"Being physical has always been in my game. That's one thing that's been my bread and butter since I started playing the game. That's what I love about it. You can be as physical as you want, break some other man's will and get away with it. I embrace that and that's something I plan on taking to the next level with me."
Born in Haiti, grew up in Boston and lives in Texas
"I'm from Boston so I'm used to the cold," he said when asked about preparing for cold weather in Minnesota. "I was born in the Caribbean. I've lived in the heat, I've lived in the cold so I'm used to that. That's going to be no issue for me, honestly. I have coats, it's just in my closet and because I'm in Texas I didn't have to use it, but I guess I'm going to have to bring those things back out."
He wears No. 16 in honor of his mother
Here's an awesome story with more info about Cine from a 2019 DawgNation clip.
"Cine told DawgNation that specific story when he was a recruit. He wears No. 16 to honor his mother. She had him when she was 16 years old. Cine realizes her life was hard then. He knows she made many sacrifices back in her native Haiti.
"He wears No. 16 to honor her. If he makes it very big in football, his hope is to one day move her stateside to America. That is when he can see her again."
What was it like facing LSU and Justin Jefferson?
"Oh my god. That's the best way I can put it, oh my god. One, Joe Burrow was a problem and then he had a whole lot of weapons to go along with that. Our defense was the top defense in the country then too," Cine said on KFAN Friday morning. "It's like bombs over Baghdad, I was like oh my god."
Jefferson caught seven passes for 115 yards and a touchdown and LSU rolled in that 2019 game by a score of 37-10.
The 'Cine and Dean' show
During Under Armour All-America practices during their senior year of high school, Cine and Nakobe Dean, the star linebacker at Georgia who unexpectedly did not get drafted in the first round, were interviewed in what was referred to as the "Cine and Dean" show.
"I want to completely destroy Alabama. I want to win, alright. With the class Georgia is building, that's exactly what they're trying to do and what they're going to do," said Cine. "You got Dean, that dude don't play. You got me in the secondary, I don't play."
Talk about calling their shot...
Elite Relative Athletic Score at the Combine
He's 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds and ran the 40 in 4.37 seconds. His Relative Athletic Score (RAS) from the NFL Combine was the sixth-best in the past decade, scoring a 9.9 out of 10.
His 40-yard dash and 10-yard split were both in the 99th percentile, while his 133-inch broad jump ranked in the 98th percentile.
