By Dawn Pearson
Playing in the granddaddy of all college football games, the Rose Bowl, Blake Lueders gave like he did for Zionsville, with all his heart, passion and tackles!
According to GoStanford.com, during high school Lueders was a four-year letter winner as a linebacker and fullback and had 93 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one interception and three fumble recoveries just in his senior year. He made the 2009 Tom Lemming All-American team playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, was a National Football Foundation Scholar, made Academic All-State, was on the Indiana Football Coaches Association and Associated Press first team All-State, and lettered in basketball, too.
Schools starting knocking on Lueders’ door, and he packed his bags and headed for sunny California and Stanford University, Home of champion Cardinal and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, where he said he loves it and knows he made the right choice. “The weather is certainly different,” he said. “It’s great, I definitely love it out there and school is amazing.”
Lueders is home for the holiday break so he got to enjoy the Winter Storm of 2014.
Majoring in Management Science and Engineering, he is an academic senior and a “red-shirted junior eligible to play one more year,” he said.
So what is it like to play in the Rose Bowl, let alone sack the quarterback?
“Well, it just can’t get much better than that. It was an amazing experience just being out there in front of 95,000 fans. It’s the Rose Bowl, and that kind of sums it up,” he said. “But in the middle of the game it just feels like a football game and you put all those feelings aside and play football.
“And the QB (quarterback) sack is my favorite play in football,” Lueders said. “I’ve scored TDs (touchdowns) and other plays, but sacking the quarterback is the best feeling.”
Unfortunately, Stanford lost to Michigan State 24-20 in the Rose Bowl’s 100th Anniversary.
Lueders is the son of Daniel and Mary Lueders and has a younger sister, Grace. He said he would love to continue playing football in the pros “if the opportunity presents itself, yes I would love it.”
And speaking of pro football, another pretty big football game is coming up very soon, and Lueders was quick to predict its outcome. “I’m hoping the Colts make it. I’ll predict the Colts and the 49ers (San Francisco),” he said.
