PITTSBURGH — Shades of LeSean McCoy.

For the second time in three seasons, Pitt is being led by a freshman running back who was overlooked by nearly every school in the country but has quickly become one of the nation's leading rushers.

Dion Lewis couldn't get his home-state university interested in him. None of the big-time powers offered him a scholarship. Pitt not only took him, it started him without the benefit of the customary redshirt season and has been rewarded with one of the best seasons in school history by any running back.

Only a year after he was averaging 14.1 yards per carry at Blair Academy in New Jersey, Lewis ranks second among all major college rushers with 918 yards rushing and third with a 131.1 yards per game average — the most among players on a ranked team.

With 10 touchdowns and five games remaining, Lewis could threaten McCoy's 2007 school record of 14 touchdowns as a freshman.

"He's doing everything right," coach Dave Wannstedt said. "Very few freshmen can make that transition and maintain it. They can do it for a week, two weeks maybe."

Pitt landed McCoy, who was known to everyone at the school as Shady, mostly because of Wannstedt's persistence.

Nearly every school that was recruiting him backed off McCoy after he broke his right ankle four games into his high school senior season. The Panthers didn't, and McCoy went on to rush for 2,816 yards in two seasons — 1,328 as a freshman and 1,488 as a sophomore. McCoy now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Panthers landed Lewis mostly because of the player's own persistence. He kept sending out tapes of his high school runs even after numerous schools passed him by, partly because of his size.