Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. The play sheet today calls for a chance visit this week with 4-star Texas safety Lewis Cine (pronounced: SEEN) this week at the Nike Opening out in Texas.
Cedar Hill, TEXAS — This story could just be about a pair of shorts.
At least on the surface. We’ll toss in a sweatshirt to be named later for the nation’s No. 3 safety for this recruiting cycle.
Yep. Shorts. They belong to a young man who is not even at the Nike Opening in Texas this week.
But Cine is a name DawgNation readers consistently ask about. There was a message board thread set up last week for users to request content for the site this week.
Cine was a popular suggestion. So much that DawgNation went to see him approximately 45 miles away from The Opening and the world headquarters of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
He showed up for the interview wearing a pair of Georgia shorts. That was interesting. But nothing worth an end zone dance or a football spin about.
But, there was more to the story there. That seems to be the running theme with a young man who was born in Haiti.
He wears No. 16 and will wear it this fall for Trinity Christian in Texas. Cine will request that number in college and whatever stages of the game progress beyond that.
The now nearly 6-foot-3, 185-pound safety does so for his mother. She had him when he was 16. She was a single mother then in their native Hati.
Cine uses that number as a symbol. To honor her.
“My mom had me when she was 16,” Cine said. “So when she did, she struggled early on to raise me. Those times weren’t easy for her. I keep that time she took care of me when it was hard back then very close to my heart.”
The conversation weaved back and forth over a lot of topics: Why he hasn’t seen her in five years and why; How those official visits to Penn State, Michigan and Texas worked out; the ridiculous conditioning gauntlet that all Tigers endure in assembly line days of Texas heat; Why he moved from the Boston Metro area to Texas for some NFL-level coaching earlier this year.
But what about those gray shorts? The ones with the Georgia “Power G” just above the knee.
Cine purchased those after his unofficial visit to G-Day back on April 21. He wanted to stock up on some Georgia gear after that G-Day visit.
“I just have to rock the gear,” Cine said. “I bought them on my own on my visit so why not wear it? When I saw them in a store on my visit it just caught my eye to bring something back.”
He did not purchase any gear after his recent official visits to Michigan, Penn State or Texas.
The nation’s No. 48 overall prospect for 2019 (247Sports composite) also purchased a UGA sweatshirt for the times when he returns back home to visit all the folks who know him best in Massachusetts.
“I was really liking that Georgia environment that day and feeling pretty comfortable with everything that I saw there,” Cine said. “I got me a little sweater too in case I go back to visit back in Boston, too. Just to show that off.”
He has made a couple of trips backs to Massachusetts since he picked up those shorts. Those were a part of his wardrobe when he did. Not that sweatshirt.
“That’s for when it gets cold,” Cine said.
The official visits so far for Lewis Cine
Cine has taken officials to Michigan, Penn State and Texas so far. His fourth one will be to Georgia.
That one will be for a game. It is the only official visit he plans that will include a game visit. He is also saving a fifth official in the event another school pops up on his radar.
He did acknowledge it will be very hard for a team not getting strong consideration at this time to wrestle him from that current quartet. Florida is a team that might eventually flash there.
He named a specific reason why he has planned to take his UGA official visit for a game this fall.
“I’ve been to ACC games and Big Ten games and I’ve never been to an SEC game whatsoever so I feel like Georgia is going to give me that,” Cine said. “I will be looking for that ‘wow factor’ from that game so I can see what SEC football and game days are all about with that type of environment.”
Georgia is planning a locker room reveal and end zone upgrade in July. He’s heard about that and is trying to work out travel to be there. He is being recruited by Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and support staffers Bacarri Rambo and Nick Williams.
Cine shared his mindset on all of his visits so far.
“I’m not looking for an emotional decision,” he said. “I’m looking for a business decision and looking for what type of defense they are in. What style they play. How that emphasis plays to my strengths. I look at how I fit into their concepts and could make that a really good fit. It is not a start-right-away decision. I will base my decision not off of emotions but on those core key things.”
He will look to make his decision during the season. He will take his official to see Georgia in the middle of the year, too.
“I was thinking about Tennessee,” he said. “For that game.”
How does he feel about Penn State right now? He brought up the weather at first and how much he likes warmer weather.
There is no leader for him right now. He said that all four of his top choices are close. Texas was the “fun” visit but he’s not really looking for that as the foundation of his decision.
He rolled through what he likes the best about each of those four schools:
Michigan: “The Michigan defense would be very physical. A lot more physical than some of the other schools. They are an all-out physical team. They showed me a lot of the fun stuff I would do on defense. I’m very physical so I saw all that fun stuff I would do on defense. Blitz. Play man. Come down. I like to impose my will on the other team so I’d get to do a lot of that at Michigan. Plus that coaching staff. I’ve gotten very close with that coaching staff. That’s coach (Chris) Patridge and (coach) Don Brown. Those are guys that I can be around.”
Penn State: “When I visited we talked about the defense. From what I see, there is a good fit for me there and I like that. I also got a really got a good feeling about and around that school, the coaching style and a good family fit.”
Texas: “I love how everything is big-time and new. I love the way the defensive coaches will use me also. UT uses a lot of DBs in their defense and I see myself playing a big role in the defense.”
UGA: “I love the environment and atmosphere. Plus when I was being shown the defense, I liked the way I’m gonna be used. I’ll be allowed to make big plays and play to my strengths.”
What is Lewis Cine looking for with his choice?
He’s seeking out something serious. Cine is aware that his college experience needs to prepare him to be the best player he can be.
“I would say the fun would be the little cherry on top,” Cine said. “I’m a serious person. One thing I was able to show Georgia on that G-Day visit was that I was a mature kid and I was going to take my opportunity seriously. I’m going to ask the right questions. I will find out what I need to know because in those four years that I will be there at any school it is just going to be a grind.”
Penn State has always been there. They have recruited him the hardest from the jump. Then came Georgia. Georgia was recruiting him the same way the Nittany Lions were earlier this year. Then Michigan entered the picture. Then Texas made its push.
He’s been in touch with Michigan and Texas the most of late. That makes sense as he was coming off his official visits to those schools.
Cine is heavy into the research and data phase at this time.
“It is processing all this data on these schools but also about reading into people,” Cine said. “You learn a lot about people and their personalities in this process. The stuff they tell you and how it matches and how it does not match up with what you see and what they do.”
Which school will make him the best football player? That’s an easy way to look at his decision because those schools check the biggest box already. That’s his academic path in relation to his business major.
“Those four schools I gave you can make me into a great football player,” Cine said. “It is more about who do I feel comfortable with? Which coaches do I feel comfortable around? At the end of the day, once you pick a school, the love they were always showing you goes away. It will be which coaches do you want to be around and have them push you all the time in college while you are there.”
“That’s the way it is. The coach will push you. That’s their job. Some kids don’t like that but that is what is ultimately going to bring out your best football. I want that, but also at the same time I would like to be able to relax and have a good time around those coaches, too.”
He hasn’t seen the fun side of coach Tucker yet.
“I’ve gotten to serious and business side of coach Tucker so far,” Cine said. “But the business Tucker has also only gotten to see the all-about-business Lewis, too.”
The most impressive things about Lewis Cine
If he finds great success in the game of football, then Cine will reward his mother. This is not one of those stories about buying her a house or upgrading her current lifestyle.
“My dream is not all about making the league,” Cine said. “My dream is to move my Mom with me to America after I make the league. That’s different I guess than most kids. One day I am most likely going to be the one to work my butt off so she can come to America.”
Cine was born in Haiti. He moved to Florida to live with some family he was four years old.
“There was a better life for me in Florida,” Cine said.
When he was eight, he moved to Boston. That’s where he lived with his father.
He moved to Texas with an uncle earlier this year. The superior coaching at Trinity Christian was the best thing for him to maximize his football potential. NFL legend Deion Sanders is a coach at Trinity Christian.
Sanders also serves as a mentor to Cine. They stress the mental approach to chasing down every one of his dreams.
“I’ve experienced a lot so I could stop being a kid,” Cine said. “At certain times, you have to grow up fast. I had to grow up fast.”
Beatrice Seide, his mother, now lives in Chile. He hasn’t seen her in what he estimated was five years. She doesn’t have her visa in order to visit him in the states. His mother has never stepped foot in America.
They spoke late last week. She basically roasted him because he never picks up the phone.
“My mother moved from Haiti to Chile to try and get a better life for herself there,” Cine said. “There wasn’t much going on for her in Haiti.”
Cine, now 18, has matured a lot in the past two years. That’s because of what he can find on his horizon. Carlos Ruiz, a former coach, really aided him in that. Ruiz “lit him up” and helped him focus.
He essentially swallowed that grow-up pill and started reeling in his future.
“When you show adults that you are not mature, then they take advantage of it,” he said. “When you show them you are mature, then they trust you with more things and share more responsibility with you.”
Miss any Intel? The DawgNation recruiting archive will get you up to speed just as fast as former Georgia All-American LB Roquan Smith found the ball after the snap.