YFO Selects International All Star Lucas Probst

Name: Lucas Probst

Country: Austria

Position: Multiple

Favorite NFL Team: New England Patriots

Favorite NFL Player: Odell Beckham Jr.

We are happy to announce our first international Youth Football Online All Star- Lucas Probst. He plays youth football for the Jr Tigers Youth Football League in Austria.

What stood out to me when watching Lucas’s game film was how athletic he is. Lucas is a great athlete that is very difficult to tackle in space. He has great speed, acceleration, and very good agility. You can see on his highlights that he is electric once he gets going. Lucas also runs very hard. He is a finisher! He always runs through tackles and does a nice job of running through contact. Another thing that stood out was his vision when running the football. He does an excellent job of finding space and accelerating to the end-zone. Lucas’s agility is one of his major strengthens, he make sharp cuts, without losing much speed. He is very slippery and runs very smoothly. Lucas is a duel threat athlete. Meaning, he can run, throw, catch, kick, and block. He will shine playing any position.

Defensively, Lucas is always around the football. He has relentless pursuit and aggressiveness to the ball carrier. He plays with great effort and toughness. He makes a ton of  tackles and is always hustling to the ball carrier. The most important thing when it comes to playing defense is pursuit to the ball carrier. This kid is relentless in his pursuit to the ball carrier. He doesn’t quit on plays and ends up making a lot of touchdown saving tackles. In pass coverage, Lucas is also very strong. He has excellent ball skills and hands. He gets a ton of interceptions and usually takes them back for a touchdown. Overall, this kid can play and shine at any position on defense. He is very competitive, athletic, and plays with great effort.

YFO: What do you like best about playing American Football?

LUCAS: I love to run Touchdowns and kick the ball in the U13 team. At defense I like to catch interceptions.

YFO: What made you play American Football?

LUCAS: My elder sister is cheerleader, so my family get´s in touch with American Football. My elder brother start to play, but he stopped after 3 years. When I was old enough, about 7, I start to play Football, this was in the year 2013. I played my first full season 2014.

YFO: What has football taught you? (Life lessons like teamwork, social skills….)

LUCAS: Different things, teamwork and team spirit is very strong in football, but our coaches thought us also discipline. My eldest brother means I have changed my physiology, so I am more caring about others,than in the past.

YFO: What do you like best about playing RB?

LUCAS: As mentioned above, running Touchdowns and making points for my team, and winning games at the end. I like to beat the defense with quick moves, like dancing through the opponent players.

YFO: What do you do to train for football?

LUCAS: I have practice twice a week with my club and in addition some extra day-camps. Practice is running the whole year in the club. In my free time, I play soccer with friends, as most kids in Austria do not know American Football and how to play.

YFO: What is your typical day like?  Is it difficult to balance sports with school work?

LUCAS: I will get up at 6:30 am to be at school at about 7:30. Lesson will start at 08:00 and will run through to 02:00 pm with some breaks and lunch. Then at school there will be learning lessons, to do your homework, I will be at home about 04:00pm. Then I have to learn for school, and if I am not out with friends I like to play computer games. Twice a week I will head to practice after school. So I think I can handle sport and school.

 YFO: How do you train in the offseason?

LUCAS: As we have practice in the club the whole year, offseason is done also with my team mates in the club. So we do athletic training, practice other sports like basketball, this happens from December to February, then we start to prepare for our games in Spring time. In Summer we will have a full week training camp to prepare for the championship in Autumn.

YFO: What is your proudest moment? Was it on or off the football field?

LUCAS: Both have been on the field, in my first year I got MVP at the Michi-Peters-Bowl, which is a memorial gameday for a former player. Second was last year, when my team won the first time the U13 cup in Austria, and I was playing kicker and I was able to kick a lot of PATs, and made some tackles on defense, and caught one interception.

YFO: How important is school to you?

LUCAS: OK I am honest, it´s a must. I know that knowledge is important for the live to get a good job and earn money, but if I could, I would do sports the whole day.

YFO: Favorite teacher? Why is he or she your favorite?

LUCAS: My math teacher. I like math, because it´s easy for me.

 YFO: How important is nutrition to you?

LUCAS: My mother always cook healthy, like vegetables, but I also like not so healthy food. Our family can eat more or less everything, it seems that we are genetic preconditioned, so we can eat everything and no one get´s fat.

YFO: What’s your favorite food?

LUCAS: Spaghetti carbonara, I love to eat spaghetti!

YFO: If you had one super power what would it be?

LUCAS: I think invisible, I can not really tell you why, but I think it would be interesting.

Coach Alexander Stöger comments about Lucas

For my opinion he is for his age the best player today in Austria, and I think one of the best in Europe.

What makes Lucas outstanding?

• Lucas’s athletic abilities – he is a fast quick moving kid, who can dance around the opponent and when he has the ball, it´s 90% a TD.
• He is not only a good runner, he is able to throw, for his age, good passes and reads his receiver and defense very good, even as receiver in this age run their routs very incorrect, so he has to look for is target and anticipate according.
• He understands the game on the field already very good and he is a pragmatic, because he wants to play and try, instead of watching NCAA, NFL or playing PlayStation.
• Lucas is also very good in defense, as he understand the game, leads his teammates on the field, and is always making the tackle or is nearby. So we decided to let him play U13 too as kicker and CB, where he made good tackles as CB, and converted about 70% of the PAT kicks, kicked long punts and made some interceptions (most on the team).
• He is a nice kid, and today you can ask him to help other kids, which are new to football, to help them to get better.
• He is a winner, he wants to win. He is a very competitive kid.

Check out: The JR Tigers Youth Football Website