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Last season’s run by Lake Stevens to the state semi-finals was the product of a lot of hard work and some talented seniors who helped lead the way for the Vikings. However, with those players now headed to college programs across the region, they are looking for some new blood to plug in and one player already stepping to the fore front is ATH Andrew Elgaen.
Elgaen, a 6’0″, 190-pound athlete, played both wide receiver and linebacker as a junior this past season, but it was his productivity on defense that set him apart as he racked up 136 tackles (80 solo) and 2.5 sacks earning All-Wesco honors for his efforts.
“I feel like I have good instincts and can read things pretty well,” Elgaen told Northwest Elite Index earlier this week. “I have good coaches too, so they prepared us well, and then it was just about reading things and making plays when we had the chance.
“This offseason I’m working a lot on my speed and making sure my tackling is more sound. We have already set goals for ourselves, mine being another season of more than 100 tackles and making All-Wesco again. As far as our team goal, we want to get back to the playoffs and see what we can do.”
Standing in the way of that team goal is the fact that the Vikings lose standout QB Jake Nelson who threw for nearly 3,000 yards and rushed for almost 600 more while accounting for nearly 50 touchdowns.
“Actually, there is a good chance I might be playing quarterback this season since Jake is gone,” Elgaen noted. “If I don’t play quarterback, we will have a junior come up and play and then I will move out to wide receiver and play in the slot.
“I actually don’t mind either way. I just want to help my team any way that I can, and if that means I gotta play QB then that’s fine.”
As far as recruiting is concerned, Elgaen said he hasn’t heard from schools to this point, but he does plan to take in several camps.
“I got to the Steve Gervais camps right now, but I’m always looking to compete with different guys so I might take in some of the Barton camps,” Elgaen said. “I definitely want to get out to Central Washington to go to their camp and our team goes there for their team camp too.
“I know Washington has a couple of individual camps, so I’ll probably go to those and then our team goes down and does their 7-on-7 tournament there in the summer too.”
With his outstanding attitude, great Football I.Q. and hard-nosed style of play, Elgaen is a player to keep an eye on this spring and summer as he hits the camp circuit.
We will have more in the near future on Elgaen and will update news as it happens with him.
