Troy wide receiver Chris Lewis will miss the upcoming season following cancer treatment, he announced in a statement posted to social media by the football team.
❤️ @ChrisLew__#BattleReady | #OneTROY ⚔️🏈 pic.twitter.com/s96s2e2WON
— Troy Trojans Football 8x⚔️ (@TroyTrojansFB) July 16, 2024
“Trojan Nation, thank you so much for your calls, messages, Tweets, DMs, and love over the past six months; I can’t express how much your support has meant to me and my family,” Lewis wrote. “There is nothing more that I want than to be back in The Vet this fall, wearing Cardinal and White and playing side-by-side with my brothers. Unfortunately, the effects of my treatments will not allow me to suit up and play during the 2024 season.”
Lewis went on to announce that he will continue to be part of the Trojan program in the fall and will serve as a student assistant coach.
Lewis, a Pleasant Grove native, transferred to Troy from Kentucky before the 2023 season and instantly became the Trojans’ premier offensive threat, recording 735 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns last fall. His yards-per-catch average of 23.0 ranked first among FBS wide receivers.
Despite turning in a stellar campaign, Lewis struggled with knee tightness throughout the fall, he later told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. An MRI taken after the season’s end revealed a malignant bone tumor in Lewis’s left femur, a cancer that required 10 weeks of intensive chemotherapy to treat.
Lewis continues to recover from the setback and has set up a GoFundMe to cover surgery and treatment expenses.
Charles Vaughan is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News.
