TJ Hayes is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Chaparral High School for AZPreps365.  

Anthony Lucas is now, according to sites like ESPN and 24/7 Sports, the consensus No.1 high school football player in the state of Arizona. Standing at 6 feet, 4.5 inches and weighing in at a robust 275 pounds, Lucas stands apart from almost every player on the field. He has been long considered a five-star recruit, and as a result, has gained a plethora of offers from high-end college programs like Alabama, Texas A&M, Miami, Oregon and Notre Dame. With all this attention, it’s hard to think that there aren’t plenty of distractions. To understand how Lucas got here, take a step back.  

Coming to Chaparral as a young man, Lucas never dreamed of developing into a football star. “I started playing football my freshman year, (but) my first sport was (actually) baseball and then basketball,” said Lucas. Not playing football before high school can be considered quite a disadvantage, but that didn’t stop Lucas from making his first varsity football roster as a sophomore the next season.    

At the time, Brent Barnes was entering his second season as the head coach of the varsity football team, coming off a 5-6 record in his first season. With the addition of Lucas to the team, along with other key contributors on both sides of the ball, Chaparral went 8-3 and made the inaugural Arizona “Open Playoff.” Lucas was one of their best players, putting up six sacks and 10 tackles for loss in the nine games with recorded statistics (via MaxPreps).  

From that point on, Lucas has been one of the most elite defensive linemen in the nation and adding a state championship to his high school resume in his junior year only increased the attention from the rest of the football world. 

Playing for a historic high school football program at Chaparral, Lucas expressed how it’s been an honor to represent the Firebirds and how much he’s grown under the coaching staff and teammates he’s had.  

“Ever since they took me under their wing, it’s just been amazing. I’ve really grown as a man, as a person, and as a student athlete. They really showed me what life is outside of football as well,” said Lucas. 

Entering his senior year, he was named one of the captains for the defending state champion Firebird squad. “Anthony has been extremely impactful on our whole program and success. He has a larger-than-life personality and is a captain for us because of his leadership and work ethic. When your best players are your best leaders, you have the most chance for success,” said Barnes. 

“Physically, he’s gotten much stronger and more athletic every year,” said Barnes when referring to Lucas’ development. “He’s grown even more as a young man and his understanding of the game and how to play it.” 

With the large collection of captains, it seems that no one player is too big for anyone else and that speaks to the maturity of the players, especially with Lucas being the biggest recruit. “What I think is great about this team, and in general and us as captains is everyone kind of represents different people of the team. Anthony is obviously someone everyone can look at because of his size. Being a five-star, people are going to flock to him,” said senior captain and starting safety Jacob Franze.  

When asked about playing with someone the caliber of Lucas, senior captain and starting linebacker CJ Eastwood said, “Oh it makes it more fun. … It’s just always a great experience having Anthony out there with us.” 

“Whenever you know Anthony is in front of you, you know you’re set. You got your dog in front, you know he’s going to do his job and make the play usually, so it makes it a lot less stressful for yourself,” said Franze. 

During a huge senior night win on Nov. 5 against Centennial, 48-6, Lucas had arguably his best game of the season highlighted by two sacks, a forced fumble, eight total tackles and four tackles for a loss. With the playoffs only weeks away, Lucas will try and lead the Firebirds to back-to-back 6A state championships. 

“Just having my boys have my back like they’ve been and just making sure I know what I’m doing,” said Lucas. Chaparral (6-4) faces Perry (3-7) at home in the first round of the playoffs this Friday at 7 p.m. 

Lucas will be one of the many great football players to come through the Chaparral program and will look to follow in the footsteps of someone like Taylor Lewan, a Chaparral alumnus and starting tackle for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

Barnes said, “The sky's the limit for a guy like him and with his character and work ethic he’ll just continue to get better along the way. With his personality, he could have a bright future apart from football at some point as well. He’s very well rounded and has a great family. He will be successful either way.”