LCS' Mack Estrada chooses multiple sports, earns The Ledger's Small School Defensive Player of the Year award
The prospect of not playing football wasn’t an option for Lakeland Christian senior linebacker and defensive end Mack Estrada.
The football staff of Lakeland Christian High School as well as other longtime supporters of Estrada ― including his family ― made a compelling case that playing the game he loved since he was 6 wasn’t going to impact his ability to throw a baseball at a high level ― a skill that is paramount to continue the trajectory of taking him to the next level.
It was MLB analysts who are valuing his long-term health for the sport of baseball. But heading into his senior year, it was those who value Estrada’s health and happiness that pushed for the Valrico native to continue to forestall quarterbacks and running backs, or any offensive threat, from getting into the end zone.
All the work to keep Estrada in football led to him sharing the Lakeland Christian all-time sack record with 11 sacks, a first-team all-county defensive football player and The Ledger’s Small School Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.
“It feels real good because it’s a good way to go out with football not playing no more and just focusing on baseball now, so it’s a good way to go out,” Estrada said. … “I don’t live in fear. If I were to get hurt, then it was meant to be. If not, it was meant to be also. I just wasn’t living in fear. And also I still have a lot of love for the game. I wouldn’t want to live the rest of my life wondering, ‘Oh what if?’”
His decision was firm, much like the hard hits he would lay on his opponents through the course of the game. Every time each one of these hits happened, Estrada experienced deja vu due to him dreaming of those exact hard-hitting hits well before the actual play.
After making beastlike collisions all over the field in a game against Victory Christian — the second game of the playoffs ― Estrada, who was lined up at the end, eventually recovered a fumble on a muffed quarterback-to-running-back handoff exchange. Estrada prevented the Storm from tying the game after the area rival had the ball in the red zone following a muffed Lakeland Christian punt.
It was a big play in the game, which led the multisport savant to racking up 12 tackles, one tackle for loss, and a half a sack. More importantly, the Vikings won the playoff game 16-15.
“It’s just a feeling of euphoria. All your teammates are yelling, (and) you can hear the whole stands and everything and you just kind of embrace that moment,” Estrada said.
Estrada’s passion starts early for football, other sports
The moment was there from the very start when Estrada started playing youth football for the Fishhawk Wolfpack in Lithia at the age of 6.
“I just love the adrenaline that it came with. You can’t really recreate that in any way,” Estrada said. “It’s just going 100% every play, just flying around, hitting people and everything. That’s the love that comes with it.”
Estrada was always infatuated with sports thanks to his family introducing him early, competing in baseball, soccer, gymnastics, and, of course, football.
He was even into baseball a few years earlier, grasping the concepts of the game faster than any sport he started. Estrada took note of his relatives who started playing America’s pastime well before him, advancing to the professional ranks.
Three years later at 9, pitching coach Joey Eischen taught him the skills on the mound he uses today.
Still, Estrada raved about the game, enjoying the task of knocking people to the ground on defense.
“I just remember hitting kids, and they wouldn’t come back in the game. Everybody would go, ‘Ohhh,’” Estrada said. “…It felt good. I feel like that’s how you play football. … There’s no other way.”
While Estrada always kept the mentality of hitting hard, it wasn’t until he was trained by track coach Jonathan Terry. Terry, who was the father of some of the kids Estrada played youth football with, taught the hard-hitter how to be mentally tough on the field.
His methodology was to have excruciating practices that would result in most student-athletes throwing up. That wasn’t enough to make Estrada throw up, but the practice was still rigorous.
“That was just how hard he pushed us, and that’ll get you right mentality to really push through things,” Estrada said. “…It was just the environment he brought. (It's just) that no one is going to dog it. We’re all going to go 100% hard. That was just the expectation. … You didn’t want to be the one straggler left behind.”
Estrada took this philosophy to the next level of football. Confidence grew for the Lakeland Christian coaches when Estrada showed them in practice that he was coachable and displayed his wit and defensive football acumen on the field.
By the time his sophomore year rolled around at Lakeland Christian, he seized an opportunity to play when one of the starters, Cade Denoff — now a Clemson football player — went down due to injury. That year, the Vikings went 8-4.
With much practice thanks to his intrinsic motivation as well as the support from his family, trainers and friends, Estrada in his senior year has already developed the ability to read offensive schemes. Combine that with his athleticism and being able to make quick cuts to put himself in position to make stops, and Estrada is the best small school defensive player in Polk County in 2022, which helped the Vikings go 9-2, ending the season in the regional finals. Estrada as a defensive playmaker for the year produced 86 total tackles, 11 sacks, four hurries, one pass deflection and two fumble recoveries.
Estrada also isn’t too shabby in baseball as he is the only student-athlete from Polk County to have an invite to the Perfect Game National Showcase over the summer thanks to his 93 mph fastball, as well as his change-up and curveball.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Vikings' Estrada is The Ledger's Small School Defensive Player of Year
