Click for Elijah Lugo Highlights
Some might say that Graham-Kapowsin OL/DL Elijah Lugo got the short end of the stick. He plays on the opposite side of the line of one of the top 2017 prospects in the country, OL Foster Sarell, but make no mistake, the senior-to-be is a solid player in his own right and he leads by example with his toughness and he’s hoping a good summer of workouts leads to some offers.
“I don’t have any offers right now, but I have a lot of schools that have been stopping by and making contact with me,” Lugo told Northwest Elite Index. “The ones that have been by recently are Central Washington, Washington State, Portland State, Eastern Washington, Montana and Navy and I’ve been hearing from a few other schools.”
Those schools include Colorado State, Northern Arizona, Cornell, Humboldt State, Azusa Pacific and Adams State, all of whom have asked for him to attend their camp.
“The camps I know I am going to hit for sure, the ones I’ve already registered for, are the Rough Diamonds Camp, the Northwest Elite Camp and the Montana Big Man camp,” Lugo noted. “I’ve also been working with coach (Eric) Kurle on a schedule of camps I should hit and we’re looking at the Washington State camp on June 13th and then the last week of June, we’ll likely go to Eastern, Central and the Portland State camps, but we’re still sorta figuring those out.”
As a junior this past fall, while playing most of the season with his right hand in cast, Lugo earned First Team All-SPSL at right tackle.
“I’d say I’m a grinder,” the 6’4″, 279 pounder said. “No matter what you ask me to do, I will get it done. Whether it’s pass protection or pulling and drive-blocking for the run.
“I broke the scaphoid in my right hand in July and had surgery on July 30th. I played the entire season with basically one hand, so it really helped me focus on my footwork and my technique because we played against some really good pass-rushers, especially guys from Skyline and Gig Harbor.”
This offseason, Lugo, who is a 3.2 student, has basically been living in the weight room and he’s also been working on his footwork.
“I actually did track this season,” Lugo said. “I did the shot which helps you explode out of our stance and that helps me with my footwork, especially my kick-step, and I’ve also been working with bands (around his feet), just making sure my base is strong and that I have my feet positioned well.”
With his smarts, physical abilities and toughness, Lugo projects better at guard or center at the next level. He should see things really start to heat up this summer once schools get a look at what he can do on the camp circuit and we at NEI will update things as news happens with him.
