Erik Glueck’s legacy at Bellarmine Prep will go beyond tackles and an intimidating neck roll

Eventually, Erik Glueck became the hard-hitting, intimidating tackling machine he now is at Bellarmine Prep.

But first it took him absorbing one of those big hits, he said.

Glueck entered a tackling drill the first practice of his sophomore year when he said one of the team’s then senior linebackers “clocked” him.

Message delivered.

“It just kind of flipped the switch,” Glueck said. “You’ve got to hit them harder. You’ve got to hit them before they hit you because being on the receiving end of that is not fun.”

Glueck went on to lead the team in tackles that season with 128. He now has 371 for his career and helped Bellarmine Prep reach the state playoffs for the sixth consecutive time this season.

Bellarmine enters the first round of the 4A state playoffs against Moses Lake at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lions Field in Moses Lake.

And if it were up to Stadium coach Thomas Ford, Glueck would be the first off the bus.

“We were joking around with our staff, calling him ‘The Boz,’ ” Ford said. “He looks like the freaking Boz (former Seahawks linebacker Brian Bosworth) out there warming up. He’s got that big build, the neck roll going on. He’s just a good-looking high school football player.

“If he’s on my team, I’m making sure he’s the first guy off of the bus.”

Glueck also plays tight end and is a member of the punt and punt return units. The only time he isn’t on the field is for the kickoffs, and he’s only missed two games in his three years.

But Bellarmine Prep coach Brian Jensen said Glueck’s legacy goes beyond his imposing stature and neck roll.

His résumé in the classroom is just as impressive as his résumé on the football field. Glueck said he has a 3.98 grade-point average and received scholarship offers to Cornell, Columbia and Ohio.

But he said he wants to play at a university closer to home. He committed to Washington State on Wednesday as a preferred walk-on.

“I think his legacy is that he is just going to be a kid who is a great example,” Jensen said. “That hard work works. I use that phrase a lot around here and Erik is the definition of that. He has that old-school way about him — of working hard, playing physical and being great in the classroom.”

Glueck was thrown into the defense as an underclassmen and that’s when he began calling the plays. But he said he’s grown most in his confidence and knowledge of the game since.

And tackles aren’t always an individual endeavor. He’s had a supporting cast around him that allows him to run free and make plays.

“You know what you are going to get from him every game,” said Bellarmine senior Ahmad Lewis, who led the 4A Narrows League with 1,642 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. “He’s a strong, fast, smart player, and he’s a very consistent player.”

“We always talk about the Lion pride player — the guy other players and other students are supposed to look up to and the guy everybody is supposed to be,” Glueck said. “We have about 60 of those guys on our team.”

Ford, a former defensive coordinator at the University of Puget Sound, said that Glueck makes up for a slight lack of fluidity with physicality and hustle.

“There weren’t many guys we played against this year who were difference makers in the blitz game like he was,” Ford said. “Getting that penetration on the blitz and playing sideline to sideline was his strong suit.

“He’s not a very fluid guy, not a big hips guy, but at the high school level he’s just so big, straight-line fast and strong. He makes such a difference out on the field just from an intimidation factor alone.”

And a difference maker off of the field with his humility and dedication to the classroom, Jensen said.

“He’s just a kid who is well-rounded beyond football and involved in the community and has really excelled in the classroom,” Jensen said. “I’m just proud of him — his whole person.

“We have a roster full of great young men, but he’s definitely one that is going to be irreplaceable. You just can’t replace an Erik Glueck. But what we can do is hopefully take his legacy and build off of those things.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Erik Glueck’s legacy at Bellarmine Prep will go beyond tackles and an intimidating neck roll."