Canon-Mac’s Sohyda sees stock rise with major college offers
Luke Sohyda hasn’t played much tight end at Canon-McMillan, but that doesn’t matter to the college coaches that have seen him work out this summer.
There was a common theme at every football camp Sohyda attended.
He left with a college offer.
Sohyda was a starting defensive end for the Big Macs as a sophomore and doesn’t have a ton of tape yet at tight end, but major college coaches saw enough in person to believe he could play the position.
That’s what he wants.
A chance to be a tight end.
He’ll likely have his pick of schools to pursue that dream.
Since May, Sohyda has received offers from Ohio State, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Wake Forest and North Carolina State.
“It’s been my dream to play college football, which is a lot of kids’ dream, and this summer that’s started to come to life,” Sohyda said. “It’s pretty awesome. A lot of kids don’t get this opportunity. It’s kind of built up and it’s been a little stressful, but it’s been fun working with the guys, so I can’t really complain about anything. I just am at the point where I’m going to keep my head down and keep going.”
Sohyda, who will be a junior this fall, played a bunch on defense last year, but didn’t see much time at tight end because the Big Macs had a Division I player at the position in TJ Sabatucci, who is now at Buffalo.
Even without much varsity offense experience, Sohyda got on the radar of some schools.
He started with some offers from Youngstown State, Kent State, Akron, Miami (Ohio), Temple, Toledo, Ohio and Buffalo. Once he started going to camps, the bigger schools took notice.
He got his offer from Ohio State when Canon-McMillan attended the Buckeyes’ 7-on-7 camp. Other offers came when he signed up and attended various college camps like Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech and he got his Maryland offer at the Bethel Park Showcase.
Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans said Sohyda’s size is a separator.
Sohyda is listed at 6-4, 250 pounds.
“He just glows out there,” Evans said. “I’ve coached guys in college that were draftable guys and he looks like those guys already. He’s big, long, and lean. His film from last year showed some good things, but I think his junior year film is going to look even better. He’s being recruited as a tight end mainly, and he wants to prove to the world he can play tight end. I think there’s some schools that see if he doesn’t work out as a tight end that he can be a defensive tackle or an offensive lineman.”
What may surprise some people is that just a couple of years ago football wasn’t Sohyda’s first sport.
He was a hockey player and played at the Triple-A youth level with the South Hills Panthers.
“I started playing hockey when I was three-years-old,” Sohyda said. “I loved the sport growing up. I kind of knew with my size what I could do playing football and at that point I decided to switch over and focus more on football.”
The switch in sports has paid off. Sohyda is turning heads and realizing that coaches believe in him and his talent to make an impact at the college level.
He credited Evans and his parents with helping guide him through the process. His dad, Tim Sohyda, is a defensive line coach at Canon-McMillan.
“Football was kind of my side sport growing up, so that made me feel like I had to go out and prove myself,” Sohyda said. “Now that I’m where I’m at, it’s kind of surreal. Most kids grow up wanting to play college football. You sit down on a Saturday to watch a game and say to yourself that you want to be that guy. Now it’s starting to look like I’ll have a chance to do that.”