Violence. Violence. Violence. Orono junior nickel Lucas La Belle Lucas La Belle 5'10" | 180 lbs | LB/DB Orono | 2027 State MN ‘s junior highlights are so mean, physical, and nasty that they have left an enduring mark and imprint on PRZMN, whose brain and memory is already naturally predisposed to remembering hard hitters from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. La Belle is fresh off a recent evaluation by PRZM (which can be found here) highlighting his game as a recent New Addition and Top Newcomer to the 2027 PRZMN Ranking’s Big Board, but we had to circle back here just to focus on La Belle‘s bone-crunching tackle ability in 2025. La Belle’s tape is one of the harder hitting not just in MN’s 2027 class, but also in our overall time scouting Minnesotans, as he

La Belle is no doubt the pound-for-pound hardest hitters in all of Minnesota, regardless of age, size, or position. The nickel/SS/OLB hybrid brings some serious strength, power, pop, and physicality into contact and can force you into the turf in a variety of different ways. Dump tackles, slams, no-wrapped, shoulder-leading, put-you-straight-on-your-butt pops, or high-quality form tackles, when La Belle puts the pads on you, you are going to the turf. And HARD. La Belle can stonewall RBs in their tracks with so much force it literally lifts them off their feet and airborne, and he runs through RBs with so much power off so little momentum that you’d have thought a 225-pounder just popped that helpless RB to the floor in ragdoll-esque fashion. La Belle naturally forces turnovers in the tackles thanks to the velocity he enters contact with, flattens RBs in dominant fashion at the contact point, and knows how to use his natural leverage advantage and momentum he brings into contact to his aggressive favor. Talk about a fun watch! This dude can hit.

A personal favorite of PRZMN with some of the most exciting film in the class, Orono’s Lucas La Belle Lucas La Belle 5'10" | 180 lbs | LB/DB Orono | 2027 State MN may be the hardest hitter in Minnesota’s 2027 class. Boy oh boy, does this kid lay the wood! The Spartans‘ nickel was an integral part of Orono’s first-ever Class 4A state championship this past season, finishing the season with a team-high 98 tackles, 6 TFLs, 1 sack, and 1 FF, helping his home team to a 10-3 2025 season that saw the Spartans beat Kasson-Mantorville 21-14 in the Class 4A state title game at U.S. Bank Stadium. The game prior, in the OT, walk-off victory over Marshall in the Class 4A state semifinal, La Belle exploded for a game-high 17 tackles, 8 of which were solo, and many of those hits were absolute bone-crushers to boot.

La Belle opens his tape with a beast of 1v1 tackler, coming downhill off only a couple of steps of momentum and man-on-man sticking a RB right in the hole, getting up and under him, and planting him backwards on a 4th and 3 in what looked like a serious momentum-shifter for his defense. The second hit of his tape looks like an AI collision (it’s obviously not) it was so violent and the ball-carrier pin-balled off his shoulder pads so forcefully, and La Belle was still hammering opponents a few minutes into his highlight tape. The 180 lber. reads and sifts through traffic smoothly and generally unimpeded, and his violene at the contact point means you really want to get a hat on this guy before he finds your RB. He’s also a quick blitzer, forced a couple fumbles, and picked off a pass in 2025, proving he’s a three-down defender and playmaker from his nickel spot. BSU made an excellent move in offering La Belle early. His ranking is only going up!