Peters Township Lucas Shanafelt Decides on Stanford

Lucas Shanafelt one of the top players in the WPIAL Class of 2026 has made his college decision.

The 3-star defensive end/tight end from Peters Township announced his commitment to the Stanford Cardinal.

The 6’4”, 235-pounder received his offer from Stanford GM Andrew Luck while making an unofficial visit on April 7.

Shanafelt received his first Power 4 offer from Pitt and for the longest time, the Panthers seemed to be his leader but things completely changed after receiving the offer from Stanford.

Shanafelt had an official visit set with Pitt from June 5-7 but that obviously won’t happen now.

This becomes the second WPIAL commitment for Stanford in the last couple of seasons after landing Shanafelt’s teammate linebacker Mickey Vaccarello a couple seasons ago.

“The decision was very difficult,” Shanafelt told PSN. “It ultimately came down to Pitt, Stanford and James Madison. I felt like all schools gave me an opportunity to do different things. Deciding on Stanford was more of a life decision. I feel like we can compete there. I believe in the staff and the players and afterwards I have a great education that I can rely on for the rest of my life. I loved the campus and the atmosphere there as well and I just felt it was the right choice for me.”

Prior to this commitment, Shanafelt held offers from Pitt, Stanford, Purdue, West Virginia, Temple, Navy, Princeton, James Madison, Kent State, Delaware, Liberty, UConn and Akron.