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Blue Chip Chat with...Pat Kugler, North Allegheny High School
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Pat Kugler
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THE SCOOP
Kugler is a highly rated lineman who has been a two-way starter for North Allegheny since his sophomore year, when he moved here from the Buffalo, N.Y., area. Rivals.com ranks him the No. 7 offensive lineman in the country. Kugler was a Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 selection a year ago and a standout on two consecutive WPIAL Class AAAA championship teams. Kugler's father, Sean, is the offensive line coach for the Steelers and Pat's brother, Rob, is a center on Purdue University's team.
COLLEGE TALK
Kugler had scholarship offers from colleges across the country before making a verbal commitment to Michigan in March. His other finalists were Ohio State, Michigan State, Florida and Florida State. He was recruited to play offensive guard or center.
You are a little heavier than last season. Is that something you wanted? Definitely. My goal was to put on 15 to 20 pounds and I definitely feel I put on the right weight. I've gotten a lot stronger and my conditioning is just as good as last year.
You had a knee injury at the end of last season. How is the knee? It was a very insignificant injury. It was more of a nagging thing, just a strain of the MCL and ACL. There was no need for surgery. I only had to rehab it about a month.
Your future is on offense, but do you like defense a lot, too? I love just being able to be a part of every aspect of the game. If I didn't play defense, I would be very upset. When you have a big play on defense, it is definitely more exciting than offense. But I'm definitely an offensive lineman at heart.
How does this North Allegheny team stack up to the previous two? I think we have the potential to be the best one out of them all. On offense, we return basically all of our skill positions, except fullback. Our defense returns a lot of players, too. I think we can be even better than last year.
Tell me something new about Pat Kugler? Ummmm, I got a Twitter account. That's probably the main new thing about me. It's @Kugleybear57.
Tell me something you did this summer? We took our first-ever family vacation. We went to Mexico.
Your first ever? As a full family, with my mom, my dad and my brother. Usually my dad had to work, or one of us had something to do with football. But we took five days off and went to Mexico.
Who should be the top three in WPIAL Class AAAA? No. 1 should be us, just because I have to say that. I think Gateway is going to be really good this year. Third is tough, but just based off what I know, I'd say probably Woodland Hills.
Two favorite things to watch at the Olympics? I'd have to say women's soccer because I'm in love with Alex Morgan. She's beautiful and I'm going to marry her one day. Second would be pingpong. I am the biggest pingpong fan ever.
First Published August 12, 2012 12:00 am
