Terrell Lewis did his best to ignore the requests lobbed into his interview during Alabama’s Orange Bowl media day back in December.

The Crimson Tide linebacker tried so hard to keep a straight face and answer the questions about his season-long rehab battle to overcome a torn ACL. Anfernee Jennings finally broke him.

“I got in a fendah bendah,” Lewis said, breaking stride by going straight into his Mike Tyson impression.

A table full of teammates absolutely lost it a few feet away in the Hard Rock Stadium club level. Lewis is close to a voice double for the former heavyweight boxing champ.

It’s that sense of humor that helped a potential All-American outside linebacker deal with the disappointment of 2018. After missing almost all of last season with an elbow injury, Lewis tore his ACL in July.

He explained the shock and disappointment of getting that news in that December interview but not before the Tyson impression slipped out.

“I just laugh it off because one of these days,” Lewis said, “I’m going to memorize one of them Mike Tyson speeches and get paid for it.”

Fellow outside linebacker Jamey Mosley cracked up when asked about the vocal parallels between his teammate and Iron Mike. It’s that sensibility that Mosley credits for his friend getting through the fall after tearing his ACL.

“That could be devastating,” Mosley said, “having something like that happen two years in a row, especially with the expectations he has as a player and the person he is, it could be devastating. But man, he handled it like a champ from Day 1. He’s been doing a tremendous job of just handling that adversity.”

That includes a trip to the postgame media room following Alabama’s win over Missouri on Oct. 13. Lewis insisted on pretending to be fellow-linebacker Christian Miller’s personal butler in the scrum. So, he stood perfectly still behind Miller cupping a water bottle in the palm of his hand should his teammate get thirsty mid-interview.

This all traces back to the early July day at the Alabama football complex. He was doing some field work with Jennings, safety Deionte Thompson and a few others.

“And somebody under-threw the ball when I was doing some drill work,” Lewis said, “and I planted and it gave out on me.”

He remembers thinking it felt a little weird, and when the swelling became noticeable, Lewis went straight for the cold tub. It’s probably a meniscus, the linebacker thought because he was walking just fine. Lewis went to Daphne to help former teammate Ryan Anderson’s football clinic. A photo from the event was posted on his Instagram page July 7. The next picture went up three days later with Lewis in a hospital bed.

The diagnosis stunned Lewis.

“Are you sure?” the star pass rusher remembered asking the doctor.

“When it hit me,” he said, “it was kinda like you can’t be serious.”

Still, there was a smile on Lewis’ face in the hospital picture. His caption said he had “nothing but positivity on this side” after a second major injury.

That Instagram account also became a link between the college junior and Alabama’s fan base hungry to see him back on the field. Lewis posted regular updates on the page with 21,000-plus followers including a Sept. 17 run on the zero-gravity treadmill. More than 15,000 people mashed the heart button on that one. Other videos leaked out of Lewis doing footwork and running drills. The social media blitz was Lewis telling the fans he would be back the same as he was before the injury.

“And don’t forget about me,” Lewis said. “Kinda just showing my rehab process and showing ‘OK, I’m progressing well to the point where I may be able to do certain stuff and getting back but when I do come back, I won’t be a step behind.”

Terrell Lewis was Christian Miller’s personal water butler. He stood there the whole interview like that. pic.twitter.com/SRCSxF9ssz — Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) October 14, 2018

The high-motor Lewis sometimes had to be reminded to take his time in this process. Everyone, coaches included, saw his videos as a sign he could defy the expectations and return to play at some point this season.

Lewis’ return to the practice field before the SEC championship paired with a vague Instagram post had the internet cooking images of Lewis facing Georgia on Dec. 1. He posted a photo of himself after a sack in January’s national title game win over the Bulldogs in the same Atlanta stadium with a caption “Debating if I should pick up where I left off...”

Ultimately, he wasn’t close to game ready at that point and he didn’t appear in either of Alabama’s playoff games. His practice routine was picking up in December, however, when he said he was playing with more confidence.

“It gets me antsy,” Lewis said. “I know the last time when I warmed up for the SEC championship, it really made me ansty as far as putting on pads and warming up and being out there with the guys, it mad

e me say, ‘OK, can I go? Am I ready?’”

Lewis credited the positive people in his circle for his sunny outlook.

And it’s that same group were the egging him on to drop some Mike Tyson talk on a group of unsuspecting reporters Thursday in Miami Gardens.

“He’s a wonderful soul,” said Mosley, a departing senior. “He’s a pleasure to be around and I’m definitely going to miss him when I’m gone ... It’s definitely a sad thing that I won’t be here when he steps on that field. But he’s handled it like a champ.”

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.