Jeremiah Lewis becomes first returning Northwestern football player to enter transfer portal since Pat Fitzgerald’s firing

On Tuesday afternoon, On3’s Matt Zenitz shared that Northwestern defensive back and redshirt senior Jeremiah Lewis has entered the transfer portal. Following Pat Fitzgerald’s firing on July 10, Lewis is the third NU player to enter the portal — and the first returning one — after first-year linebackers Nigel Glover and Justin Cryer did so last week.

Lewis was projected to be Northwestern’s starting safety in 2023 after a 2022 season in which he racked up four pass deflections, three tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a career-high 70 tackles. He played in all 12 games for the Wildcats, and provided positional versatility with his ability to play significant snaps at both cornerback and safety.

Lewis transferred to NU in 2022 after spending four seasons with Duke, redshirting in 2018. In his final two seasons with the Blue Devils, he recorded four interceptions, with one of those coming against Northwestern in a 2021 game.

With just over five weeks until Northwestern begins its season at Rutgers on Sept. 3, multiple players could fill Lewis’s void opposite Coco Azema. Devin Turner, Garner Wallace and Jaheem Joseph are just a few players who may get bumped up the depth chart as the fall approaches.