2026 RB Justin Lewis Explains UMass Commitment

2026 California running back Justin Lewis talks about why he chose the Minutemen.

For Justin Lewis, it came down to the coaches.

The 2026 California running back had offers to play at the service academies and multiple Ivy League schools along with some others, but the new coaching staff at UMass - led by running backs coach Jeremy Larkin, offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian and head coach Joe Harasymiak - sold him that Amherst was the best place for him.

“From the first phone call that I had with Coach Larkin, we immediately had a connection,” Lewis says. “He had some connections with my older brother when he was at Northwestern, where my older brother is now. He had a part in recruiting him, so we had a lot to bond over. Meeting him in person on my official visit, as well as talking to Coach Bajakian and Coach H, as well as the rest of the coaching staff, I think what they're doing over there is extremely real.

“Them being a new coaching staff and what they portray to me as what they're doing with the program, that excited me and I wanted to be a part of that. I would definitely say the genuine and real connections that I developed with the coaches as well as the fact that my parents bonded with them. There wasn't anybody over there that wasn't just the most genuine and caring and any other adjective that fits along those toward me and my family.”

Lewis believes in the plan the staff has to turn UMass around.

“I think that the biggest thing for them is definitely just to go out, put their head down, not worry about what anybody else has to say about last season,” Lewis says. “At the end of the day, none of that really matters. They're there now.

“As I've talked to Coach Larkin, he's told me about their fall camp and the rest of their camps and he's told me that every single day has just been a grind. I think that is really the best way to approach getting to a winning culture and getting to a winning season, really just to put your head down and grind.”

Lewis took an official visit to UMass back in June, when he was hosted by transfer running back Juwaun Price, who played at New Mexico State, Syracuse and North Texas before joining the Minutemen this offseason.

“The way he talked to me about what went into his decision and how he talked about the relationship that he had with the coaches there compared to the relationship that he had with the coaches at other schools,” Lewis says of Price.

“That really interested me to hear that from somebody who - obviously not in the same position as me - but was making a decision on where to go and has already been through the recruiting process and has already been through the college football landscape. To hear what he has to say about the relationship with the coaches and the environment at UMass, that definitely had a huge role in my decision.”

After rushing for over 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior at Thousand Oaks, the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Lewis will play his senior season at famed Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif.

“I've talked to Coach Larkin a lot about how I fit into their playing style,” says Lewis. “He's talked to me a lot about how I'm an every-down back, a very versatile back, which I really do appreciate. I pride myself on that in my game. I think I'm a very versatile running back. I think that I could go in and make an early impact because of the skills that God has given me.”

Lewis is excited about having found his future home, but has turned his focus back to where his feet are now.

“As much of a blessing as it is, at the end of the day, we all play a very competitive sport. And as much as the recruiting part and wondering where I am going to go is over, now, it's really time to get to work. It's time to turn up in the weight room, turn up on the field, attack this senior season, attack the offseason. It's definitely a comforting feeling to know that that is where I'm going to go. But at the end of the day, it's still the same mission, which is just to get better every single day.”

CHECK OUT LEWIS’ JUNIOR HIGHLIGHTS HERE

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