The fastest high school hurdler in the state this past spring has decided to play football in college with a little track and field on the side.
Lincoln High senior-to-be Darius Luff announced on Twitter Saturday afternoon that he was committing to North Dakota to play football. Luff made the commitment while attending camp at UND over the weekend.
“They made me an offer I couldn’t turn down,†said Luff, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound all-city safety for the Links’ 8-2 football team last fall who registered 41 tackles (six for losses) and recovered a fumble.
“I really liked the coaching staff and the facilities up here,†added Luff, who also had football offers from Division II Augustana and Sioux Falls. “They told me I’ll be able to run track my second year after using that first year to settle into football and the academic side of things.â€
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Luff was recruited as a defensive back by North Dakota, either cornerback or safety. He’s expected to play receiver as well as safety this coming season for Lincoln High.
Even though the track recruiting process starts later in an athlete’s high school career, Luff would’ve have had plenty of hurdling opportunities in college as well. He led Lincoln High to the Class A boys team title after winning both the 110-meter high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdle state titles in May. It was Luff’s second straight gold medal in the 110s.
His time of 13.84 seconds in the 110 preliminaries at state is the best electronic time ever recorded in Nebraska high school boys track. Luff had the state’s fastest time this spring in the 300s with a :38.50.
“The (college track) recruiting was really just getting started, so I didn’t have much (college) track attention at this point,†Luff said. “Having this done takes a lot of stress off me. Now I can focus on the upcoming (football) season and getting faster and stronger.â€