Corey Luciano turned up everywhere during spring practice for the University of Washington football team.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound junior from Danville, California, spent much of April as the backup center to sixth-year senior Luke Wattenberg, sort of a stop gap between the starter and promising freshman Geirean Hatchett, who received a month-long trial at the interior position.
Luciano took considerable snaps at No. 1 right tackle, too, filling in for injured sophomore starter Vic Curne.
He also got better acquainted with outside freshman linebacker Jordan Lolohea in one of the final practices, with their show of Husky brotherhood prompting sophomore defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa to instinctively join in.
Luciano and Lolohea first looked like they were dancing, shoving each other in slow-motion. This quickly escalated into violent roundhouse swings. Like an enforcer, Letuligasenoa felt compelled to crash into Luciano from behind and drop him to the turf.
For Luciano, he's one of those guys you can use anywhere — remember, in 2019 in his first year in the UW program, he was a tight end — and do just about anything to him and he'll get right back on his feet.
"He took one for the team last year," offensive-line coach Scott Huff said of Luciano's tight-end stint in 2019.
Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.
Luciano wears No. 74 after first pulling on 47 as that tight end, with the higher digit holding an unusual place in UW numerology. For a good part of the past decade, the jersey has gone unused. Before that, offensive lineman Stanley Daniels and defensive lineman Alameda Ta'amu made it stand out.
Yet prior to that, No. 74 was mostly conversation piece for the Huskies. Defensive tackles Steve Emtman and Mike Lustyk in 1988 both badly wanted it because it was their high school jersey. The UW gave it to the more heavily recruited Lustyk, who ended up having a nice college career as a backup while Emtman, relegated to 90, became possibly the greatest player in school history.
With Luciano, he'll take whatever number the school gives him. Just put him on the field. Since arriving following a season at Diablo Valley College, he's been ready to play anywhere.
He's one of four junior-college transfers on the roster, joined by punter Triston Brown {Mount San Antonio College), running back Capassio Cherry (Contra Costa College) and tight end Quinton Moore (Independence Community College), with the first two players coming from California like him and the latter from Kansas.
Luciano has showed he easily can go from the agony to the ecstasy and back.
This high-motor offensive lineman took off running after nickel back Bookie Radley-Hiles, who intercepted a pass and decided to run nearly the length of the field with it. Luciano tried to punch the ball away from the Oklahoma transfer at midfield and chased him all the way to the goal line.
It probably wasn't a wise decision on his part. Luciano pulled off his helmet on the far sideline and bent over for several minutes as if he was about to lose his lunch. He then spent several more uncomfortable minutes with his back against a wall and his face looking skyward before rejoining the action. He was physically spent.
Ready to start if necessary or fill in at any time, Luciano takes physical punishment as well as anyone on this team, whether it's self-inflicted or doled out from behind. You can wound him at times, but you can't get rid of him.
Luciano's 2021 Outlook: Projected reserve offensive lineman
UW Service Time: Played in 10 games
Stats: None
Individual Honors: Not yet
Pro Prospects: NFL free-agent signee
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