You can say that Fitzgerald West came out of the womb with a size advantage.
"I was born 9 pounds, 9 ounces. Growing up, I used to play up a lot," West explained. "I was 7 playing with 10 years old. I always had to get my ID checked. I had an ID at the age of 10"
That big boy is now a big man, standing at 6-2, 315 pounds. And he knows how to throw around his weight.
"He makes my job so much easier in the run game," LCA safety Brylan Green said. "I don't have to worry about inside gap or run support."
"When you get to the QB every snap, we don't have to run as far the field," LCA cornerback Jordan Allen added. "It gets the QB to throw the ball way quicker."
West has been starting on the defensive line for Lafayette Christian since he was in 8th grade, but his dominance really started to show in 2020. As a junior, he finished with 51 tackles, including 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and a forced fumble. Fitz was a unanimous Class 2A all-state selection.
"I loved it," West said. "It's a blessing to see all the work you put in, coming to the light. Especially as a lineman."
"Really his technique, how explosive he is coming out of his hips," LCA Director of Football Operations Trev Faulk said. "How well he uses his hands. Then you combine that in to that size of a kid at the high school level. You kinda tend to see some of the dominance that he's had.
But West didn't really start to gain steam on the recruiting trail until this summer, when he started dominating camps on the offensive line. LSU and Alabama both offering him scholarships in June.
"I guess o-line is more of an advantage because you know what to do," West said. "It's been pretty easy for me to come back and do it. It's either you be the hit it or the hitee."
Over the weekend, West committed to the Tigers, here he will now have a chance to play in the trenches in Death Valley.
"I chose it cause I thought it'd be a great fit for me," West said. "I've been around it for a couple years and it felt like home to me."
"I think he can be as great as he wants to be. On either side of the ball," Faulk, a former LSU All-American said. "If he chooses to go the route of playing on the offensive line, he has that same makeup, demeanor, physicality, athleticism to take this thing a long way.>
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