Peters Twp Standout Lucas Shanafelt Receives Huge Offer

Considering his size and athletic ability, it was only a matter of time until the recruitment of Lucas Shanafelt started to pick up.

It appears as though that time might be arriving.

The 6’4″, 245-pound 3-star defensive end – tight end from Peters Township received early Power Four offers from both Pitt and West Virginia but he recently received an offer from Purdue and then Monday, Shanafelt got word that his latest offer was coming from the Stanford Cardinal.

Shanafelt received the offer from Stanford while making an unofficial visit and got the news from a person you’re probably familiar with.

“Andrew Luck, Stanford’s GM, gave me the offer and it was very cool to hear that news from him,” Shanafelt told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “We talked about where they see me in their defense and the recent head coaching change that they had. He believes that the Stanford program is trending in the right direction.”

Last week, Luck made the decision to fire head coach Troy Taylor following a report that he had been investigated twice for allegedly mistreating staffers. Former Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich has been hired as Stanford’s interim head coach.

Due to joining the ACC conference, led by the recruiting efforts of former Pitt standout tight end and current offensive coordinator Nate Byham, Stanford has made an effort to recruit the WPIAL. Considering their academic prestige, Stanford doesn’t offer every talented football player so for Shanafelt to be one of them is an honor.

“It was very surreal to receive an offer from a school like that,” said Shanafelt. “My former teammate (current Stanford linebacker) Mickey Vaccerello has only told me good things and at this time last year, I didn’t think it was possible for me to get an offer from them. But when the dream became a reality, my family and I were very happy and appreciative.”

“The visit to Stanford was great. I was there for around 8-9 hours, and I got to see pretty much everything. The campus was beautiful, and the facilities were great. What really stood out to me were the people. I felt very comfortable with a lot of the coaches, and I had never even met them before in person, so it was great to have that opportunity while on my visit.”

At the conclusion of your talk, I was curious as to how this offer might impact his recruitment.

“I’m very grateful to have some new recent opportunities to play at the next level and I will definitely be taking them into consideration for sure,” said Shanafelt. “I have a lot to think about and talk about with my family, but I am excited for the future.”