First and foremost, do not continue reading this article until you watch the video above, which is of Florida commit C'yontai Lewis laying one of the hardest hits you will ever seen on a football field.
Watched it? Good. Now believe it, despite the scarce evidence in the video of anything but violence: Lewis himself tweeted this video out himself, with a fitting, if brutal, nickname for it.
"@Revivalution: Could this be the hardest hit in High School Football?: http://t.co/Q4lKzqrRBp via @YouTube" CHECK ME OUT
— Bigg Cee (@idunklewis) October 19, 2013
http://t.co/Q4lKzqrRBp THE DECAPITATION
— Bigg Cee (@idunklewis) October 19, 2013
The video and the hit are from last Friday's game between Lewis's Kingwood Christian School and Macon East Mongomery Academy, in which he had two catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-10 win that may have put a damper on Macon East's homecoming.
Lewis made his mark better with the hit. Here's the GIF, smithed by SB Nation Swiss Army knife Luke Zimmerman.
The hit appears to me to be a clean, if ferocious, shoulder block to the chest of a Macon East player, Tripp Adams, who has the extraordinarily bad fortune of not nearly matching the future Gator's size — and not keeping his head on a swivel. Yes, Lewis launches, but that's not illegal for offensive players or blockers, as far as I know, though my knowledge of Alabama high school rules is admittedly zilch.
But, importantly, I'm told that Adams is out for the year and went to the emergency room as a result of the hit, which is really, really unfortunate. (It's unfortunate that a future Division I athlete ended up at a small Alabama private school and competing with smaller players instead of a bigger one, where opponents might stand more of a chance, but I digress.) And Lewis was previously suspended for a helmet-to-helmet hit, apparently, so dubbing this hit "The Decapitation" doesn't look too great, either.
On one level, the hit proves that Lewis will sacrifice his body for his teammates, and can hit people. Football is a brutal, violent sport as it exists today, and you want players who can and will do that.
On another, it proves that football as it exists today gets people hurt.
Many thanks to the emailer who tipped me to this story and provided background on the aftermath of the hit.
Andy Hutchins is Alligator Army's managing editor. Follow Alligator Army on Twitter and Facebook.