2010 Indiana DE holds five offers

A player who will make a run at top billing in the state of Indiana for the class of 2010 is Zionsville defensive end Blake Lueders. The 6-5, 240-pound Lueders has heard from more than 30 college programs already this fall and has five scholarship offers to his credit.

"Indiana just offered me. I got the letter Christmas Eve," Lueders reported. "The first offer was Stanford and that was around Sept. 1. Next was Northwestern and that was the first day of our playoffs. Then Boston College and North Carolina (offered) a week or two ago.

"There are some other schools I'm interested in that haven't offered me, but I am completely happy with the offers I have."

Three more schools Lueders mentioned that he has interest in are Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.

A common theme among those schools that have offered as well as those the Indiana product is interested in, is that many are among the elite academic institutions in the country. Lueders takes advanced placement courses at Zionsville and has a GPA over 4.0. Education will certainly be a consideration when he chooses a college.

"I definitely want to go to a good academic school," Lueders said, "but that's not the only thing I will take into consideration. It also has to have what I want to study. I'm thinking something like Business or Finance."

A decision is still some time off for Lueders, but he does have a game plan in place for attacking his recruitment and finding the school that fits him best.

"This spring I am going to go around and visit a couple colleges – mainly the ones that have offered me – and I'm hoping to make a decision before my senior season," he said.

This past season, Lueders led Zionsville to an 8-5 record and Sectional Championship by tallying 128 tackles, three sacks and one interception from the middle linebacker position. He earned all-conference and Junior All-State accolades for his play.

"I just try to play extremely physical. I love to hit," Lueders said. "People have said I remind them of a young Brian Urlacher, but I don't know how accurate that is.

"I played middle linebacker this year. Some schools are talking to me about playing either linebacker or defensive end. Most are saying defensive end, but a couple are saying both. I love to play either, but I think I'm more naturally built for defensive end."