Georgia sophomore right guard Greg Pyke
grew up playing a lot more lacrosse than
football.At 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, Georgia right guard Greg Pyke is more imposing than your typical human being.
Imagine what he must have looked like to fellow lacrosse players growing up.
Before Pyke ever began competing for a starting role on a Southeastern Conference football program, he was a standout lacrosse player at The Boys’ Latin School in Baltimore. Back in high school he was “only” 6-5 and 295 pounds.
“When I was on the field, I would just love to hit people, and it’s one of the reasons I chose football,” Pyke said Wednesday by phone. “I was so much bigger than most of the guys, and I was always getting penalized for a high stick to the neck. I would get so many penalties in lacrosse that I figured I might as well play a contact sport in which hitting was encouraged.”
Pyke began playing lacrosse when he was 6, and he had an older brother who played at North Carolina and an older sister who played at James Madison. Football didn’t enter the picture until he was a high-school freshman, but schools started showing an interest during his sophomore year.