Coach: Wright Brings Rare Combination At Position These Days

It’s doubtful many Notre Dame fans were taking Brock Wright’s arrival in South Bend for granted just because the 2017 Texas tight end had been committed to the Irish for more than a year since he enrolled earlier this month.

But if any were, they were certainly snapped back to reality when Hall of Famer Deion Sanders proclaimed Wright a future Sunday Player from the Under Armour All-America practice last month.

One guy who never took Wright for granted is his former high school coach at Cy-Fair, Ed Pustejovsky.

“Obviously, he was a great football player for us, but even more so than that, he’s a great young man,” Pustejovsky said. “He’s a very respectful, hard-working kid. He’s a super young man who comes from a super family.”

The coach said he was able to take advantage of Wright’s ability as an attached tight end in the running game while also using him as a threat down the field.

“We run the ball quite a bit at our place,” he said. “He set the edge for us. He was very physical. On the other end of that, getting him down the field on playaction and things of that nature.

“He did a great job in the passing game for us. He had some big catches and big runs. He’s very athletic. He can do any combination of both.”

That true combination isn’t seen much among tight ends anymore.

“He’s pretty special,” Pustejovsky said. “It’s pretty rare nowadays. There are a lot of kids listed as tight ends who are mainly hybrid guys, they’re not attached.

“With him having the ability to do both, especially in our game today where there aren’t a lot of tight ends who can do that, he’s pretty special that’s for sure.”

Add in Wright’s maturity and easy-going demeanor off the field and it’s obvious Notre Dame’s program improved in multiple ways when he showed up earlier this month.

“He’s a different guy when he gets on the football field than he is outside,” his coach said. “He’s a very respectful young man. He was a captain for us for two years. He was elected a captain at the Under Armour Game. Like I said, he’s a very respectful young man and it shows.”

Pustejovsky believes the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder still has room to grow.

“Probably his route-running because we didn’t spend quite as much time on that with him, things of that nature,” the coach said of where Wright could still get better.

“I think the run game and pass protection parts of the game, I think he’s ahead of the game. I think he’ll get better as a receiver, not the running ability, just the route-running and different techniques and things of that nature.”

The coach believes Wright put himself in the right position to make an impact sooner than later by getting to college early.

“I think it gives him an opportunity to play earlier, to play in the fall. He’s with them right now. He’ll go through all of the offseason. He’ll go through spring ball and have a summer up there. I think when they come in early, they get ahead of the game and it affords them the opportunity to play a little bit earlier.”