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<p>Former Wyoming Valley Conference star Eugene Lewis is headed to Oklahoma.</p><p>The wide receiver announced Monday morning that he would be transferring from Penn State and headed to play for the national semifinalist Sooners.</p><p>&#8220;This was not an easy decision, but I feel like it is time to move on to the next chapter in my life,&#8221; Lewis wrote in a letter to Penn State fans.</p><p>&#8220;I appreciate everyone for the support and I hope you understand my situation. You are the best fans in the country. With all that being said, I want to thank my family and everyone who supporte me through my Penn State journey. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and God has a plan for me.</p><p>&#8220;Penn State will always be in my heart and no one can ever take that away.&#8221;</p><p>With his numbers in the Nittany Lions offense down from a year ago, Lewis was looking to play his fifth and final college season somewhere that has a less crowded depth chart at wide receiver.</p><p>After hauling in a touchdown against Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl, Lewis said he had not decided whether he would return to Penn State, but did acknowledge he would prefer a bigger role.</p><p>&#8220;Like anybody, you want to have more catches and more opportunities,&#8221; Lewis said. &#8220;I did everything I could to just help my team win each and every time, and I wouldn&#8217;t change nothing about it.</p><p>&#8220;Our receiving corps, we&#8217;re such a tight group. We all want everybody to do well. I love all them guys, and I&#8217;m just thankful for the opportunity.&#8221;</p><p>After saying that he was up in the air about his future, Lewis began getting attention from more schools looking for help at receiver, including Oklahoma, which is losing two of its top three targets to graduation.</p><p>The Sooners won the Big 12 this season and secured the fourth and final spot in the College Football Playoff, falling to Clemson on New Year&#8217;s Eve.</p><p>Now Lewis will be catching passes from Heisman hopeful quarterback Baker Mayfield.</p><p>Because Lewis has already earned his undergraduate degree, he will be eligible to play at Oklahoma immediately in 2016, provided he enrolls in a program not offered at Penn State.</p><p>&#8220;Geno has been a valued member of our team and has made some clutch and memorable catches during our two seasons with him,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said in a statement. &#8220;He has had influence on and has been a great mentor to our young group of receivers.</p><p>&#8220;We are very proud to see him leave Penn State with his degree in hand and wish him the best of luck.&#8221;</p><p>Lewis finished his junior season with 17 catches for 196 yards and three touchdowns as the Lions&#8217; No. 3 receiver behind Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton, both of whom will return. He also threw a highlight reel touchdown to Hamilton against Northwestern.</p><p>But though he found the end zone more this season, the rest of Lewis&#8217; numbers took a sharp decline.</p><p>The former Wyoming Valley West quarterback and receiver had eight grabs for 173 yards in the 2014 opener alone &#8212; a yardage total that took him a full 13 games to surpass in 2015. His final sophomore numbers were 55 catches for 751 yards and two scores.</p><p>Over three seasons, Lewis caught 90 passes for 1,181 yards and eight touchdowns for the Lions.</p><p>Lewis had a frustrating start this past fall as the Lions leaned more heavily on the run game because of issues in pass protection.</p><p>That began to change when Penn State was forced to air it out in an October game against Maryland where Lewis hauled in the game-winning touchdown in the second half.</p><p>Franklin offered plenty of praise to Lewis for keeping a positive attitude through it all.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really proud of Geno because he hasn&#8217;t had as many opportunities this year as he&#8217;s had in the past,&#8221; Franklin said during the season. &#8220;And to be honest with you, I think he&#8217;s handled it really, really well. Is he happy about it? No. But does he have a great attitude? Does he come to work every single day?</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud of him. His attitude has been great at practice every single day. His work ethic has been really good. Body language, all those things that coaches talk about has been really good. So he has taken a challenging situation for some people and turned it into a real positive, and I&#8217;m really, really proud of him and his growth.&#8221;</p><p>He found the end zone in three straight games, scoring against Illinois and then hooking up with Hamilton against Northwestern. He capped it all off with a fourth-down touchdown grab in the bowl game that sparked a surge from 24-3 to 24-17.</p><p>Should he opt to leave, Penn State will be losing a valuable red zone target who had a knack for coming up with big catches in the second half.</p><p>As a freshman, he caught decisive touchdowns against Syracuse and Wisconsin. As a sophomore, he led rallies against UCF and Rutgers with catches on winning drives. He also scored as part of a second-half comeback against Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl.</p><p>When Lewis arrived at Penn State in the summer of 2012, he and his freshman classmates were facing a four-year postseason ban with no expectation they would ever get to play in a bowl game.</p><p>As it was, Lewis played in two of them for the Lions and caught a touchdown in both.</p><p>&#8220;Coming in, I wasn&#8217;t supposed to get any bowl games,&#8221; Lewis said after his final game for the Lions. &#8220;I&#8217;m thankful. I put everything in God&#8217;s hands.&#8221;</p><p>He expanded on that Monday.</p><p>&#8220;These last four years have been an incredible ride and I wouldn&#8217;t change anything,&#8221; Lewis wrote. &#8220;To all my teammates, I just want to say, from the sanctions to now, I wouldn&#8217;t want to go through all of that with any other group. No one could ever break the brotherhood and support we have for each other.</p><p>&#8220;I love you guys to death and will always have your back. Through all of the adversity, I have become a better person, man and player.&#8221;<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YfjWz6769dE?rel=0" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis&#8217; first career TD was a game-winner vs. Syracuse.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7VgeCh4ZyUg?start=216;end=240" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis had two TDs at Wisconsin in 2013 &#8212; this one won the game.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JfW5Wofq-HE?start=2591;end=2675" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis&#8217; career-best game came in Ireland, highlighted by his longest TD.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2FmUs83HT2U?rel=0" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p><p>Lewis sparked a come-from-behind win at Rutgers.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LSY1ilWcZRE?start=2998;end=3075" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis scores to start a Pinstripe Bowl rally.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/imbCATkANMs?rel=0" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis snags the game-winner this season vs. Maryland.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZaIAtKpbuLM?start=1386;end=1477" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis leaps again to haul in the fade for a TD.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHSLxKWChLw?start=2615;end=2735" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Play of the year? Lewis goes back to his Valley West days.<hr/></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FNeLrx4KqDw?start=6254;end=6346" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Lewis scored in his final game for Penn State.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Eugene Lewis closed out his Penn State career with a fourth-down touchdown against Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TaxSlayer-Bowl-Footba_Sopr-3-1-10.jpg</photo1><caption1>Eugene Lewis closed out his Penn State career with a fourth-down touchdown against Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl. </caption1><photoCredit1>Mark Wallheiser | AP photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Former WVC star headed to Oklahoma</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>ON THE WEB</strong></p><p>For video highlights of Eugene Lewis&#8217; most memorable plays at Penn State, read this story on timesleader.com</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Eugene Lewis set to transfer from Penn State for final season