Indiana Football: 2020 OT Luke Wiginton Talks IU Commitment
Luke Wiginton felt pretty good about Indiana after getting to know its coaching staff after a visit to campus in late March.
However, what ultimately sold the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Dwenger offeni was the interactions he had with IU's players that day, specifically the buy-in shown by a group of redshirt freshmen that didn't see the field much last fall.
"I was hanging out with Nick Marozas, Tommy Greene, TJ Ivy, Gavin McCabe. Jordan Jusevitch was another one. They were just so emphatic about how they loved Indiana and this staff and I think that was probably one of the biggest ones for me," Wiginton told TheHoosier.com Saturday night. "I'm like, these guys are all-in on this, and I if I want to be a part of something this big in college football, I want to be a part of something like this where everybody is on board with what's going on."
With that, Wiginton decided he would end his recruiting process by making the more than 350 mile, six-hour round trip from Fort Wayne to Bloomington to give his verbal pledge to the Indiana coaching staff in person at Saturday morning's practice and become the second commitment in the Hoosiers' 2020 class.
"I'm all in, I'm 100 percent in, and I love what's going on here," Wiginton said, recalling when he told the staff. "I want to be a Hoosier."
Including the visit to IU's Feb. 10 Junior Day, Saturday marked Wiginton's third trip to Bloomington in less than eight weeks.
During that time, he had a chance to talk to future Hoosier teammate Ty Wise - a linebacker from Carmel (Ind.) High who became IU's first 2020 commit on March 7. Wigitington said his dad suggested he reached out to Wise before he following through with his plan to pick Indiana, and it only further confirmed he made the right choice.
"We just hit on a lot of the same things about how it's a family, and that's just so much more special than going somewhere where it's a factory," Wiginton said. "I truly do believe that Indiana's a family and the whole staff's doing the right things to win. Spending time with the guys, talking with coaches, and then talking with Ty on Monday night, that was kind of like, ok, I'm ready to do this now."
His decision now made, Wiginton traveled back home with his family at ease. Now that the recruiting process is over with early, he can fully shift his attention toward his senior season and helping Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Dwenger repeat as Indiana High School Athletic Association Class 4A state champs.
"It's an incredible relief," Wiginton said. "The process was very cool to go through, but it was starting to get stressful. I was talking to my parents, I'm like, I know I want to go to Indiana, I'm not going to waste any more time and they were totally on board with that. Because originally I was planning on committing probably a little bit later, like mid- to late-May, but I didn't want to waste any more time. Now I can focus on helping lead Bishop Dwenger with my teammates to another state championship."
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