Lugg Explains Decision
“I kind of surprised him. I made it seem like we were having a nice, normal conversation like our other calls,” said Lugg of the chat that turned the 2017 Pennsylvania offensive line target into a 2017 Notre Dame offensive line commit.
“We were just talking about high school football, getting ready for camp next week, his camp this past week with Notre Dame. Then he just asked me what was new and I told him, ‘I’d be honored to commit to Notre Dame at this time.’ I caught him off-guard, he was so happy.”
Happy is understating Hiestand’s feelings.
“He said, ‘If we were Facetiming right now, you would see a gigantic smile on my face,’” Lugg recalled.
“Coach Hiestand was very ecstatic when I told him.”
Hiestand may have been caught off-guard, but he wasn’t exactly surprised.
“He said he was very, very excited and ever since he saw me from day one at the Lineman Challenge, he knew I was a fit for the Notre Dame offensive line mold,” the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder from North Allegheny High School said. “He was just so happy that I made that decision.”
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was also fired up.
“He said he loved to get a Pennsylvania lineman,” Lugg said of Kelly. “The way he saw me interact with the players and coaches, he felt I fit the offensive line mold, so he was very excited.”
And Lugg himself is also excited about his choice.
“There’s some peace right now,” Lugg said. “I’m very, very excited, but there’s some peace knowing it’s over and I can focus on my high school football team now and having a killer junior season and just enjoy Notre Dame and everything it has.”
Choosing the Irish over offers from schools like Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Duke, Maryland, UCLA and Tennessee among several others wasn’t all that difficult for Lugg.
“I felt like I was going to be making the decision soon after my second visit to Notre Dame, I just didn’t know when that time would come,” he said. “I had a talk with my coaches, the football staff, my parents and I felt like, ‘I need to make this decision. Why wait?’
“Everything about it from the coaches to the players to the people on campus and seeing the campus, everything about Notre Dame is outstanding. On both trips I took, I did not find a single negative about Notre Dame.”
Lugg touched base with his future teammates and classmates on Friday night, exchanging texts with 2017 offensive line commit Dillan Gibbons and 2017 tight end commit Brock Wright. Now he’ll turn his attention to other Irish targets.
“I’m going to try getting Damar Hamlin and Paris Ford because they’re from the WPIAL, where I’m from,” he said. “Also, it’d be awesome to get Hunter Johnson.”
Add Lugg to the list of people trying to get Johnson, Notre Dame’s top 2017 quarterback, to South Bend.
“I’ve spoken with him briefly and he just seems like a very, very nice kid, a Notre Dame-type kid,” he said. “He’s a great player. I got to see a bit of his family and his outstanding. He’s a great kid, the same with Dillan Gibbons. He’s a great offensive lineman and I can’t wait to work with him in college.”
He’s met Hamlin and Ford, 2016 and 2017 Pennsylvania defensive backs respectively, on other recruiting trips.
“I know Paris and Damar were just at Notre Dame I know they both loved it there, so they’ve already got a feeling for it and they’ll know what I’m talking about when I’m talking to them. I’m not going to annoy them about it. I’m just going to make sure they know it’s family there and we really, really want them to come join.”