The last time the Monticello community saw Luke Emmerich on a playing surface, a sophomore at the time, he was attempting to lead the Magic to a win in the Section 6-5A semifinals over Rogers on Oct. 29, 2022. However, tragedy struck the young star. He suffered a torn ACL during the contest and missed nearly two years of action and development.
A natural-born competitor, it was devastating for Emmerich when he suffered the first of two ACL tears against Rogers. “It was hard. I feel like we would have won that game if I didn’t (get hurt),” said Emmerich.
As if once wasn’t enough, right after getting cleared from his initial injury, he suffered a devastating setback when he tore his ACL once again. “It was a long road and right at the end of June, it happened again. It was tough, really. It does a lot more to you mentally than a lot of people think,” mentioned Emmerich.
But Emmerich was ferocious in his recovery. He was in physical therapy three to four times a week. It was exhausting work, but he put in the time and made his debut for the track and field team this past spring.
When he stepped onto the track, he reminded everyone exactly who he was. Monticello High School was the host for the second outdoor meet of the season on Tuesday, April 23 and Emmerich made his presence felt immediately.
He took his place on the starting block in lane five for the 100-meter dash and 10.69 seconds later, Emmerich had won first place with the school’s newest 100-meter dash record. 10 days later, Emmerich announced his commitment to play football for the University of Wisconsin.
“To go out and to just run and compete again, it was so nice to be an athlete again,” Emmerich said. To be able to go out and still perform at the level I know I can, it was awesome.
His recovery wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There were times he didn’t know if he should return to sports. “Do I even want to do this anymore? It’s happened twice. Should I just hang it up?” he admitted.
Since Luke could remember, he always wanted to play sports in college. Chasing that dream fueled his hunger. He eliminated any self-doubt in his road to recovery. Watching college football on Saturdays, he knew that was where he still wanted to be. “It was a long battle, but it was well worth it,” Emmerich declared.
After being cleared, Emmerich was tested on his 40-yard dash time and after running a 4.50, he knew he could still compete at the highest level. That was the confidence boost he needed.
Monticello Track and Field Head Coach Corey Derby knows firsthand the type of athlete Emmerich was and was thrilled for Luke when he was able to return to the track and display that type of athleticism again.
“As a coach, I was concerned. I didn’t want him to come back and have something happen during our sport that prevents him from doing what he truly loves,” said Derby. “Football is his true love and we all understand that and so I was thankful and happy that he could come out and compete and show that he’s healthy. It’s been a blessing for us.”
The weekend before his record-setting meet, Emmerich had taken a trip to Seattle, Washington to visit the Washington Huskies. They offered him a scholarship and after running the 100-meter in 10.69 seconds, other offers started to flood in.
“I ran that time and maybe 10 or 15 minutes after I ran that, Iowa State called and gave me an offer. The next day, it was Michigan State, Boston College and I think in a span of about eight days, I picked up 12 Power Four offers,” said Emmerich. “They were always kind of in the shadows. I was kind of a wait-and-see kind of guy. I mean, is he back? Can he do all the things he can do before? And once I showed them that I could, it really picked up from there.”
Admitting that it sounds crazy coming from a Minnesota kid, Wisconsin was always the place Emmerich knew that he wanted to be. Even though he was a Gopher fan growing up, he wanted to go somewhere out of state and he fell in love with Madison and the coaching staff.
Emmerich talked to other big-name schools like Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Florida, Florida State and Miami (FL), amongst others. When all was said and done, he had offers from 15 Division I schools but in his heart, he knew he was a Badger.
“Once they (Wisconsin) offered me, I didn’t want to commit right away. I wanted to process everything that was going on and make sure I was making a decision with my heart and my head. Probably two weeks later… nothing changed my mind on Wisconsin at all,” said Emmerich.
At the Minnesota State High School League Class AA State Track and Field Championships earlier this June, Emmerich competed in the 100-meter, the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x200-meter relay. Alongside Gus Staryszak, Jack Geislinger and Alvin Bropleh, Emmerich helped the Magic to a third-place finish in the 4x1.
Showcasing his athleticism on the track helped Emmerich return to the college prospect spotlight and Luke is excited to return to the gridiron this fall for his senior season.
“I can’t wait. And I think we’re going to be pretty good, too. I think we have a shot to make it to state and see what we can do from there,” said Emmerich.
Before his injury, Emmerich was an integral piece in all three phases of the game for Magic football. He was the quarterback on offense, safety on defense and was the punter on special teams. In Emmerich’s absence, Koen Schlangen has stepped up and has taken control of the QB spot but Luke will leave his mark offensively filling into other roles.
“I’m just happy that he gets another year and he can go out on his own terms,” said Monticello Football Head Coach Andy Pierskalla. “To have that dynamic of a playmaker back, we’re going to enjoy this year and hopefully have a chance to do something that Monticello hasn’t done since 1988 and that’s our goal and Luke is a big part of that.”
It’s been 36 years since Monticello football has played in the state football tournament and Emmerich is ready to do whatever it takes to get the Magic back there.
“I can play anywhere but the o-line and d-line and I’ve told that to Coach P (Andy Pierskalla) a ton of times and I think we’re going to use that to our advantage as much as possible,” said Emmerich.
Emmerich looks up to Coach Pierskalla a ton. Pierskalla has helped Luke every step of the way with things like recruiting and the coach was quite complimentary on how Emmerich has handled the process of returning from his injuries.
“Resilience is the first word that comes to mind. Luke has played a lot of football for us. He unfortunately had an injury that took him out of his biggest year for recruiting. The summer going into your junior year is kind of your big year,” said Pierskalla. “And so he was stripped of that opportunity to show what he could do. I mean, this is just a year later than what would have probably happened anyway. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a kid be more resilient and get to that point where he took care of himself and his knee first. And then to put up the numbers he did during track just kind of accelerated that back to, okay he’s healthy. We’re very proud and excited for him.”
A three-sport athlete, Emmerich is ready to go guns blazing into his senior season. He was already punishing opponents on the football field, dunking a basketball and flying past kids on the track as a freshman. Fully healthy and ready to go, Emmerich is poised to get back to business as usual for his upcoming senior year.
The comeback is greater than the setback and Luke is ready to make some more magic.
Most Popular
Comments / 0