RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesIt's not uncommon in this era of college football for teams to have completely different position groups from one season to another. Ball State 's linebacker room is no exception.
Last year's linebacking corps featured five experienced players in Jack Beebe, Alfred Chea, Joey Stemler, Jackson Wiegold and Caden Johnson. With the former four exhausting their eligibility and Johnson leaving in the transfer portal, the Cardinals were down to just two redshirt freshmen — Mikeah Webster and Lucas Szymborski — in the linebacker room.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Knowles knew Ball State needed to find players with experience as he looked to reload the middle of his defense.
"I knew going into the offseason that there were some good players out there that were going to be in the portal, but I didn't want to add an inexperienced guy," Knowles said. "I wanted to have somebody who I had a good feeling about that's played college football for multiple years."
The Cardinals added two redshirt seniors that fit that billing — Gavin Forsha from Tennessee State and Cincear Lewis from Cincinnati. Both players seem primed to make a big impact as they spend their final collegiate season in Muncie.
Lewis was a 3-star safety recruit out of Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan and enrolled early at Cincinnati in the spring of 2022, later appearing in one game as a true freshman during the 2022 season. A preseason injury kept him out for the entirety of the 2023 season, during which he earned his redshirt, and he did not see the field in 2024 either. Lewis made his return last season and appeared in five games with 10 tackles for the Bearcats.
When Lewis entered the portal, Ball State was one of the first schools to contact him thanks to a connection Knowles had on Cincinnati's staff. Bearcats defensive line coach Walter Stewart worked with Knowles, as well as Ball State head coach Mike Uremovich, during their time at Temple and helped the two sides get in contact. With so many vacated snaps on the Cardinals' roster, Lewis saw an opportunity to make an impact as a fifth-year senior.
"We all understood that we'll be stepping into a role where there isn't any returning starters, so we've taken it upon ourselves to meet extra on our own, outside of any coach instruction, doing extra work after practice, everything," Lewis said. "We understand the shoes we have to fill, and I think we're ready."
Although Lewis didn't see the field much in Cincy, Knowles didn't seem concerned with his relative lack of in-game snaps.
"Even Cincear, who didn't have a ton of reps, I knew some of his coaches at Cincinnati and felt good about taking him as an experienced guy who just had a couple of injuries previously," Knowles said. "I felt like I was getting two really good veterans."
The second of those two veterans is Forsha, another redshirt senior who has bounced around a bit in his college career. A native of Nashville, Tenn., who prepped at Mount Juliet Christian Academy, Forsha began his collegiate career in 2021 at Tyler Junior College in Texas, where he made an immediate impact with 11.5 sacks. He then transferred to Kansas State, where he appeared in nine games during the 2022 season before transferring to South Alabama the next offseason.
After three appearances during the 2023 season for South Alabama, Forsha took a redshirt and was finally in line for a bigger role entering his 2024 redshirt junior season. He appeared in the Jaguars' first seven games and started five of those contests before a torn ACL against Troy ended his season. Forsha returned home to Nashville by enrolling at Tennessee State, but with his knee still in recovery, he missed the season and received a medical exception for a sixth season of college football.
"Last year, I didn't get to play because I was coming off an ACL injury, so I'm really blessed to be able to play my last year healthy with a team that is really ready for whatever," Forsha said. "It was really the coaching staff and the culture that they have built that drew me here."
Outside of those two, the Cardinals have an extremely young linebacker room. Redshirt sophomore Kaleb Stewart transferred in from Coffeyville Community College and had some playing experience there, but redshirt freshmen transfers Jovan Clark (Washington State) and Carson Burckhardt (Valparaiso) didn't see any snaps at their first stops. Webster and Szymborski also didn't see the field while earning their redshirts last year, and the only other linebackers in the room are true freshmen Gannon Knowles and Cole Mynett.
With so much youth surrounding them, Lewis and Forsha have also taken on the role of mentors.
"I feel like the team has worked really hard to put ourselves in position to do well this season," Lewis said. "Just understanding the role that I have here, being an older guy and just taking out all the things I learned as a young guy applying them and using them to help us be better."
Contact Cade Hampton via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10 .
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Experienced linebacker duo ready to make big impact for Ball State football
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