Michigan football: Jourdan Lewis enjoys chance to give back with camp

Perry A. Farrell | Detroit Free Press

Jourdan Lewis’ first sponsored football camp was so important to him that the Dallas Cowboys excused the former Michigan football All-American defensive back from part of the team’s organized team activities.

Lewis, a former Free Press Dream Team member from Detroit Cass Tech, will head back to Texas on Tuesday with a good feeling about his WR vs. DB Skills Camp for select sixth- to 11th-graders on Sunday at the new Detroit Police Athletic League headquarters on Michigan Avenue.

Some of the area's top underclassmen were in attendance on a steamy day at Michigan and Trumbull, including Oak Park quarterback Dwan Mathis (Michigan State commit), Detroit King quarterback Dequan Finn (Central Michigan), Walled Lake Western quarterback Samuel Johnson III (Boston College) and Belleville defensive back Julian Barnett (MSU).

Lewis and former U-M teammate Delano Hill posed for a photo with each of the 200-plus participants, who received gloves and shirts. Cass Tech coach Thomas Wilcher, along with other former Technicians Mike Weber (Ohio State) and current U-M players Donovan Peoples-Jones and Lavert Hill, were on hand to lend support.

More: Michigan football: Jourdan Lewis senses urgency to win from Wolverines

“I had great mentors and I had great people that showed me the way," said Lewis. “It was only right for me to come back when I had the opportunity to give back to the kids. I feel as though it’s great to hear things from a coach, but when you hear things from an older peer or somebody that they’ve been watching all the time. ... The message sticks more. The experience changes their lives. This is extremely important to me.’’

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Lewis started for the Cowboys as a rookie and registered 54 tackles with one interception.

“The pro game is more mental,’’ he said. “What I’ll tell these kids is they have to stay focused and concentrate on their dreams. It can be done, but staying the course is so important. You have to have that passion for it. You have to have that will. It’s football at the end of the day, as long as you have that focus.’’

Wilcher said whether it was Lewis or any other local player from the Detroit Public School League, giving back is something he has always preached.

“It’s great to see kids want to give back," said Wilcher. “We met about this a long time ago. We talked about it and it’s great to see that the kids are getting together. That’s the most important thing. To see Delano Hill and Jourdan Lewis, two kids who competed against each other in high school and Little League, now they’re coming together to give back to the community. Having an opportunity to give back to society and become a better person. If you have wealth, whether it’s money or knowledge, whenever you get a chance to give it back, that’s when you now your value."

Lewis said he believes someone who participated in Sunday's camp would eventually benefit from the experience.

“Cass, everything we did was family oriented,’’ said Lewis. “We did everything as a family and a team. When I went to Michigan, it was the same structure. I always had those mentors to come back and tell me the right things. I had people who told me the right thing to do. I took a little bit from everybody. I just came out and tried to do this.’’