Freshman Terrell Lucas Already Making News At Duke
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Terrell Lucas remembers the first day his father took him to an offseason technique camp.
That was when he was a fifth-grader.
Today, that young athlete who would watch older college players come back to train and work on their craft is now a 6-foot-3, 240-pound freshman at Duke University.
With Premier Athletes (Sly Johnson and his great staff) offering a way for football players to become more than fast and strong, prospects such as Lucas have taken advantage of the process and the results are right there on several college campuses and now, NFL fields, throughout the nation.
"The experience of working with Sly and these coaches put my football game on the right path from the beginning," Lucas explained. "When I was at Miramar, this was a huge part of my training routine."
Because he learned from watching so many former football players who had attended Premier Athletes, Lucas continued to get better and better. It had come to the point last season where several colleges were truly impressed by what kind of football player he had become.
The path to the next level has to begin at some point, and with athletes such as Lucas, the Premier Athletes experience of learning the game the right way, and understanding that there are never going to be shortcuts, was what has put himself in the position he's in today.
At the age of 18, he headed to Durham with the idea of just learning and fitting into a program that has really raised the bar. By the time he returned home to spend the weekend with his family, he had made such an impression after a few months, he had already put himself in the mix for the Blue Devils in just his first year.
"Hard work and the belief that you can always learn more have become a reality for me," Lucas said, training with area high school standouts, also looking to gain an edge. "I put a lot into this game and into what I do in the classroom, and I am getting that chance to use both of those skills right now."
With Northwestern University All-American linebacker Anthony Walker (Monsignor Pace) being one of the players that everyone looked up to at Premier Athletes, there are so many others who served as role models for those younger prospects to follow. Walker, a first-team All-Big 10 selection, is easily one of the country's best football players and is projected as a first round selection in next year's NFL Draft.
"If many of these young high school and youth players see a college kid that is on TV every Saturday, running patterns right next to them, that's a big deal," said Sly Johnson. "That's what was created here. Terrell watched players like Anthony, Juwan Dowels (Syracuse/American Heritage/Western) and Skai Moore (South Carolina/University School)."
Indeed, the selling point to the youth league prospects to come out and learn have been the many high level high school athletes who have been training for years. Now, the high school prospects want to measure themselves against the college and the NFL players who raise the bar.
Daniel Braverman was one of those who started out, learning the receiver position from the beginning. After being drafted by the Chicago Bears was the first of the group to reach that next level.
In addition, big-time football players such as McGarrett Kings (Michigan State/University School), Quincy Wilson (Florida/University School) and Keon Lyn (Syracuse/Miramar) also continue to come back and sharpen up their skills against other talented football players.
There are also talented players such as Nick Internicola (University School/Rutgers/FAU), Sean White (University School/Auburn), Mike White (University School/USF/Western Kentucky), George Rushing (Cardinal Gibbons/Wisconsin), Christian Blake (Cardinal Gibbons/Northern Illinois), Rashard Causey (St. Thomas/UCF) and standout Rashard Robinson (Ely/LSU/49ers) to name a few.
The South Florida extension reaches to Duke – and Lucas has found players such as receivers Trevon Lee (Cardinal Gibbons) and Chris Taylor (University School), Edgar Cerenord (American Heritage) and defensive tackle Brandon Boyce (St. Thomas Aquinas).
"It makes a difference to everyone when the players who have gone on to high school and college to come here and work," Johnson pointed out. "You have prospects such as Jarius Adams (Dwyer) and Juwan Harris (St. Thomas) playing together at Rutgers."
