Hiestand Lands Lugg
With several months before it needs to wrap up its 2016 recruiting class, Notre Dame’s 2017 recruiting class is already picking up some serious steam.
2017 Pennsylvania offensive lineman Joshua Lugg became the third junior to jump on board when he announced his pledge to the Irish on Friday night.
The 6-foot-6, 260-pounder from Wexford, Penn., joins fellow 2017 offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons and 2017 Texas tight end Brock Wright to give Notre Dame a strong start heading to the 2017 class.
The consensus four-star prospect chose the Irish over offers from schools like Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Duke, Maryland, UCLA and Tennessee among several others.
Harry Hiestand continues to have tremendous success on the recruiting trail and Lugg acknowledged the Irish offensive line coach played a major role in his decision.
“He’s a great guy,” Lugg told Irish Sports Daily this week. “All of the players love him. I’ve talked to a lot of the Notre Dame offensive linemen and everyone knows the Notre Dame offensive line is a tight-knit group that relies on each other and helps each other out. They said it’s all because of Coach Hiestand.”
The North Alleghany High School standout worked out for Hiestand at Notre Dame’s Lineman Challenge in June, which helped him earn his Irish offer. Hiestand wasn’t around when Lugg returned to South Bend last week, but remained in steady contact.
“The thing he’s told me is, ‘I’m not like other recruiters. When I recruit kids, I’m going to treat them how I’m going to treat them once they get to the school,’” Lugg explained.
“I’m not saying any names, but I know some college coaches will play games in recruiting and once you get to college, they’re not going to be doing that every day. He’s saying he’s going to treat a recruit the same way he’s going to treat them at Notre Dame.”
Lugg wasn’t look for a slick recruiter during the process.
“I want a coach,” Lugg said. “I want a really good coach I can trust and look at as family.”
Even with Hiestand absent on the last visit, Lugg got to really get a feel for Notre Dame as a school and a program.
“The last trip to Notre Dame was a more personal visit,” he said. “I spent the whole day with Coach (Scott) Booker. I got to see more of the campus. When I was at the Junior Day in late-June, I only got to see the Golden Dome and a couple other buildings. It wasn’t the full thing, so I wanted to get out there again.”
Academics was also important in Lugg’s decision and he learned more about the student life of Notre Dame football players on his last visit as well.
“I got to speak with the academic advisor, Adam Sargent, he was very useful,” Lugg explained. “I got to learn more about the academic side of Notre Dame, which is very important to me. It was very cool. He was very informative and he was a great guy to talk to.
“He keeps the football players in line. The players know he’s going to get them what they need and the degrees they need to have to be successful in life. He doesn’t let anybody slide He keeps everybody going and going and going, which is awesome to have. With football during the season, it’s hard to stay on top of the academics, but if you have a guy like him keeping everybody on track, that’s a great thing.”