A late bloomer in the sport of football, dual athlete Lucas Tribble finally saw opportunity his junior year. As things started to click for him, he was learning the intricacies of the game quickly enough to get slight attention from college recruiters; however, there was a common theme that continued to pop up: size.
"Over the junior offseason, I talked to a couplebrof schools, and coach [Brad] Skinner and coach [Hal] Wasson told me I could play at the nextbrlevel; it was within reach," Tribble said. "Spring ball that junior year, I got my first offerbrfrom Toledo. There were tons of coaches coming through spring practice. Theybrwere all saying that if I was a bit bigger, I could get some offers."
Tribble, who will end his wrestling career this year, put himself on a weight and meal plan that summer and gained 35 pounds, in addition to increasing his overall speed. When two-a-day practices began this year, Tribble weighed 270 pounds. Five games into his senior season, the offensive lineman sent his highlight real to the coaches he spoke to during spring ball.
"Once I had grown, they saw I could be a 300- to 315-pound guy and that I could play," he said. "That's when more offers came in."
When the dust settled, he received about a dozen offers, including three Ivy League schools (Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth). While his FBS offers were intriguing, ultimately the senior couldn't pass up an Ivy League education. He decided to take his talents to New Haven, Conn., and committed to Yale on National Signing Day.
"I kept saying, 'I'm really throwing away an Ivy Leaguebreducation [if I decide to go to an FBS school], and that’s a different life I can have," he recounted. "Going to Yale is going to setbrme up the rest of my life."
Despite its distance, Tribble is happy with the fact that he can always get home to Texas in a few hours via plane if he has the need. While the people are different than those he knows in Southlake, and it's much colder in Connecticut, he can still enjoy his love for fishing (fly fishing in particular); that is, of course, when he's not studying or playing ball.
"On my first official visit, I got there and itbrfelt like the right place," he said of his late-2015 trip. "I got along with the guys and coaches that I talkedbrto really well. I like the people up there. It’s a beautiful campus."
Tribble has an interest in engineering, but isn't quite sure what he'll end up studying at Yale. He doesn't have to declare a major until the end of his sophomore year.
"I will take a wide range of courses and figurebrout what I want to do then," he said.
Tribble attributed his parents for raising him to work hard, stay on the grind and not complain. Wrapping up his stint in Southlake, he said he wants to leave the legacy that hard work pays off. When asked what he'd like to say to his successors on the football team, that notion was evident.
"It’s a grind and it kind of sucks to work as hard as you do, and you don’t see any [initial] results from it, but once the results come in, it reallybrpays off," he said.