That approach, Krug asserts, comes from his youth sports days in his hometown of Marlton, N.J., about a 50-minute drive from Cabrini’s campus in Radnor, Pa. He grew up playing football, wrestling and lacrosse, thriving in each.
In football, the 20-year-old played tight end and defensive end, winning state championships as a junior and senior at Cherokee High School. In wrestling, Krug started as a “scrawny” freshman at 145 pounds, then competed in the 182-pound weight class a senior. With lacrosse, Krug didn’t fully devote himself to the game until eighth grade, and trained on Sundays only when out of season.
Given the prevailing trend of kids specializing in one sport, Krug went against the grain, said Craig Barlow, his former coach in all three sports.
“When he was in middle school, he was a actually a long-stick middie,” Barlow said. “Then we’d put him on man-up with a short stick because he shot the ball the hardest when the kids were in sixth grade. He’d do anything we’d ask him.”
With 100 goals and 51 assists through his first two seasons at Cabrini, it’s an understatement to say Krug has come a long way in lacrosse. He was named the CSAC Rookie of the Year in 2016, earned USILA third-team All-American honors in 2017 and has been named the Warrior/US Lacrosse Division III Preseason Player of the Year ahead of the 2018 season.
Such a progression, Krug said, simply comes from devoting himself more to lacrosse now that he’s at Cabrini. Rather than suiting up on the gridiron or the wrestling mats during the fall and winter, he’s been afforded more time to work on his stick skills and shooting.
“Through high school, I wasn’t that skilled in lacrosse,” Krug said. “I was an athlete and fought really hard, but once I got here to Cabrini, it’s all changed.”
Colfer said he always knew such growth would come around, especially as he looks back upon the phone call between Krug’s junior and senior years of high school, when he committed to the Cavaliers.
“At that point, I was coaching some club and we had a meeting, so I had to step outside,” Colfer recalled. “I don’t remember much of the meeting after the phone call. He just had all the tools. What he lacked in lacrosse, we knew he would make up for it with athleticism and grow as a player.”