By Pete Pelegrin
Twitter: @Petepelegrin

Former NFL coach Bill Parcells once said, "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries."

Back then Parcells was talking about not having final say over the New England Patriots roster when he was their coach.

For FIU linebacker Sage Lewis, the Parcells quote applies not to roster management but rather to actual cooking.

Growing up most kids watch cartoons or play video games during their free time, Lewis, however, was glued to the Food Channel. Lewis diligently watched world-renowned chefs prepare a variety of meals on the many different shows that the channel offers. Eventually, Lewis learned how to cook.

"I taught myself to cook my own meals with help from watching the Food Channel," said Lewis, a culinary major. "I was a fat kid. My mom was always working so she didn't really cook like I did. I watched the Food Channel all day and I loved it."

While Lewis relied on himself to learn culinary skills, the sophomore has leaned on senior linebackers Treyvon Williams and Anthony Wint to learn the craft of linebacking at the college level.

"When I first came to FIU I was a hit dummy," Lewis said. "I loved hitting people. I was playing super-fast. Anthony Wint taught me how to slow down the game, about reading my keys. Treyvon always brought the intensity and I tried to match his intensity. He's one of the hardest hitting linebackers we got."

The lessons are sinking in for Lewis, who has had a nice start to the season. Lewis is fourth on the team in tackles with 26 behind, you guessed it, Williams (39 tackles) and Wint (36) along with safety Bryce Canady (31).

Lewis figured he was a candidate to start this season so he prepared for it. The former Miami Pace standout ran much more in the offseason and worked extensively on his technique to be ready to start alongside two of the FIU defense's pillars.

"I think I matured in the offseason and during training camp," Lewis said. "Knowing that the other two guys I play with are the leaders of the team is a big role for me to fill. I was humbled to start. I went into training camp as a starter but I thought to myself that I was still a three and I had to earn my starting role."

Although Lewis has learned from watching Williams and Wint, FIU defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brent Guy believes Lewis has a natural ability to play the position.

"Sage makes plays," Guy said. "One that jumps out at me is when they ran the reverse at Rice and he got a tackle for loss on it. They ran a screen one time and he set the edge on us. . .He feels things naturally like screen plays, reverses that a lot of guys would be running wild trying to get to the front side. He can see that stuff happening which that is natural ability. I haven't taught him that."

One area where Lewis still needs to keep developing is in pass coverage, which is usually the most challenging part of playing linebacker.

"The thing we still have to keep working on is coverage," Guy said. "Coverage is the hardest because we do a lot of different things and sometimes the coverage changes when the formation changes. Sage is diligent about working on it. He'll just keep getting better with reps."

Similar to how Lewis learned cooking – with reps.

"When I started cooking back then I baked a bunch of pies," Lewis said. "That was the first food I always made. My best dish now is organic fettucine chicken Alfredo. I make everything from scratch. I don't buy Ragu. I cook everything. I don't concentrate on any particular type of cooking. I keep learning new dishes and keep getting better at it."

Like his other passion, playing linebacker.