Freshman Clemson CB Jeadyn Lukus Has 'NFL Body' Right Now
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CLEMSON, S.C.- There's a reason Jeadyn Lukus was considered the top player in the state of South Carolina in the last recruiting cycle.
Arriving on campus at 6-foot-2 and 185-pounds, Lukus is long and athletic, like many of the corners at Clemson over the past several seasons. He looks so impressive, position coach Mike Reed noted after a recent practice that physically, Lukus looks NFL ready right now.
"He's a big kid right now, you know," Reed said. "I mean, you would like all of them to come in and look like that. You know, he's one of those kinds of kids that jump out of a cereal box and he's already assembled. Ain't much I got to do. Coach Batson may have to tweak and tune up a little bit, but he's got an NFL body right now."
Although, being ready physically is one thing. Lukus now has to make that jump from high school to college mentally, something that can take a little more time.
"He's just gotta make that transition as far as mentally playing on this level," Reed said. "In the playbook and things of that nature."
The young freshman is also dealing with a shoulder injury, something that will keep him out the rest of the spring. While the coaches fully expect Lukus to be ready to go for fall camp, he will have some ground to make up.
"It's one of the things where you don't want a promising young man with his skill set to come in and have an injury," Reed said. "But the one thing he'll have to do is mentally, he'll have to stay in tune, which he is. He'll just have to make the catch up when we come back in in the summer, but he'll be okay."
However, when Lukus is able to make it back, there will be plenty of opportunities for the freshman to see the field. The Tigers are faced with having to replace both starting corners from a season ago, which means more reps for the younger players, according to Reed.
"Next man up, and that's a good thing for a lot of younger kids."
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