The Spire

Aiden Konold ‘26

Chief Sports Editor

Emotions swirled around Luke Newman’s home on Saturday, April 26, day three of the 2025 NFL Draft. There was anticipation, excitement, and the fear of the unknown. A year ago, Newman attended C.J. Hanson’s draft party and experienced the stresses involved when waiting on that fateful phone call, expecting to be drafted, but not sure when the time would come. Now, it was Newman’s time. 

Late in the sixth round, surrounded by family and close friends, Newman picked up his phone and pressed “accept.” On the other line was a Chicago Bears’ executive. The Bears planned to select Newman with their 195th overall pick. 

“I didn’t quite know what I was being told on the phone,” Newman says. “All I remember was being asked, ‘Are you ready to be a Bear?’ And I said,  ‘Absolutely!’”

Newman, who spent four years as an offensive lineman at Holy Cross before transferring to Michigan State for his fifth year of eligibility, has always faced challenges head-on, knowing that each step will prepare him for his ultimate goal of succeeding in the NFL.  

In Newman’s freshman season at Holy Cross, he faced his first major challenge. His freshman season was moved to the spring and shortened due to COVID-19, and Newman appeared in just three games as a reserve offensive lineman. But he showed enough flashes in practices and the games in which he played to convince his coaches to throw him into the fire of playing left tackle by his sophomore season. 

“I think that’s kind of what sustained some of my biggest leaps and growth from another standpoint, just getting a lot of experience blocking bigger, stronger dudes at such an early age,” Newman says. “I think that was really the best way for me to learn and develop.” 

One of the bigger, stronger dudes that Newman faced on a regular basis in practice his freshman and sophomore was teammate defensive lineman Benton Whitley, who stood at 6’4 and 260 pounds. Whitley, who now plays for the Arizona Cardinals, was more explosive than any player Newman previously played against. 

“He was kind of my first taste of what NFL caliber size, speed, strength, and technique look[s] like at the college level,” Newman says of Whitley. “And that was kind of my introduction to it. And I think battling him out [my] sophomore year really carried over well for the years after and coming into Michigan State.” 

At Holy Cross, Newman was surrounded by an elite veteran group of offensive linemen, which included Mike Pizziketti, Grady Smith, Pat McMurtrie, and C.J. Hanson. Though Hanson was only a year older than Newman at the time, he remained a mentor to his younger teammate. 

“[If] you make a mistake one day, you fix it the next day,” Hanson told Newman. “And if it’s something new that day, you fix it the one after that.” 

In practices, Newman started to fix his mistakes and improve his technique. Every time he walked into the weight room, he did so with a sense of purpose and a desire to get better. His coaches remained supportive as he adjusted to playing one of the most physically demanding positions in football full-time at the collegiate level. 

“They [head coach Bob Chesney and offensive line coach Chris Smith] were always patient enough to teach me, they were also willing to push me when they needed to,” Luke reflects. “That balance between being supportive and offering constructive criticism while also just lighting a fire under me, both contributed heavily to me finding some success at Holy Cross.” 

Once Newman started in his first game as a Crusader during his sophomore season, he never gave his backup the opportunity to take his spot at left tackle. He started in 37 consecutive games spanning from the first game of his sophomore season until the last game of his senior season. Newman’s play on the field earned him All-Patriot League First Team honors for three consecutive seasons, and in his junior and senior seasons, he earned Associated Press All-America honors. 

At the conclusion of his senior season on the Hill, with one more year of eligibility remaining due to his COVID-shortened freshman season, Newman entered his name into the transfer portal. Coach Chesney, who had just taken over the reins as the new head coach at FBS-level James Madison University, was among the first to reach out to Newman. 

“Obviously, I would have loved to go there and be part of that again,” Newman says. “But I thought I’d be doing myself a disservice by not making myself uncomfortable, you know, sticking to what I know.” 

He wanted to prove himself against tougher competition and make a position change to the interior of the offensive line to prove his versatility, but most importantly, he wanted to experience change. He knew it could only make him stronger and more resilient in preparation for playing at the NFL level. 

After talking with coaches and visiting schools, Newman landed on Michigan State, which is about an hour long drive west of his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. 

“Going to Michigan State and doing something completely new, something that was going to challenge me really [helped] tell me, like, ‘Hey, are you as good a football player as you think you can be?’ Like, come to Michigan State, prove it at that level,” Newman says. “That, along with [making a] position change, was really the big reason why I came to [Michigan State] over James Madison.” 

When Newman first arrived at his newest destination, he faced the challenges of adjusting to a new position, playing a heavy zone offense in comparison to the gap schemes he ran at Holy Cross, and lining up against more powerful and more explosive players with more refined techniques than the players he faced in the Patriot League. Some of Newman’s newest opponents included 2025 first round picks, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, who played at Michigan. 

“But to my surprise, I had to remember you know [what I learned] at Holy Cross: keeping good pad level, understanding leverage, hand placement, and then just kind of working it out from there,” Newman says. “I just had a really good understanding of the basics and fundamentals from Holy Cross that carried over pretty well at Michigan State and even in the All Star [East-West Shrine Bowl] game in Texas that I was in in January playing center and right guard on top of that.” 

And as Newman acclimated to playing at the Big Ten level, Michigan State’s offensive line coach, Jim Michalczik, constantly told him, “Hey, you’ve done this before. Just go out and do it again. Play fast, play confident. That’s all you got to do.” 

“His ability to be patient with me and coach me and correct me on something every day kind of gave me that confidence to play at such a high level,” Newman says of Michalczik. “When I got there [Michigan State], it was kind of like learning how to walk for the first time. And his patience, and his fortitude towards wanting to teach me, wanting me to get better, that was a huge reason why I was able to play confident, play fast, and have a lot of success.”

At Michigan State, Newman showed off his durability, starting in each of the Spartans’ 12 games at left guard and taking the field for every single offensive snap in eight of those games. In his lone season as a Spartan, Newman led the team in offensive snaps played (739) en route to an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection. Newman’s exemplary play at the Big Ten level earned him an invitation to the East-West Shrine Bowl held in Arlington, Tex. where Newman tried his hand at center and even right guard, position shifts that instantly increased his draft stock.

During this past offseason, Newman worked on making his snaps more consistent and cleaner, and focused on getting more depth at center. Though some of the skills Newman learned from playing guard translated over to center, he had to learn how to communicate the offensive play calls with the other offensive linemen. 

“It’s stuff I’ve had time to practice at Michigan State, at the Shrine Bowl, at Pro Day, and leading into my time with Chicago, I’m kind of going there as a center first,” Newman says. “And so, it’s a new challenge for me, something that makes me feel a little uncomfortable at times, but I know I’ve been through this before, and it’s something I’ll overcome, and something that I find will be very habitual to be in the future playing center. And it’s just telling myself that, ‘you’ve done this once before, you can do it again.’ ”

In the months before the NFL Draft, Newman talked to Hanson, who just finished his rookie season with the Chiefs. 

“You’re going to come into your rookie year, there’s going to be a lot going on,” Hanson told his former teammate. “You’re not going to quite understand everything that’s going on. You should take it one day at a time.” 

But Hanson also told Newman, “It’s going to be the longest year of your life, and just get ready to suit up and take it head on.” 

Expect to make mistakes, Hanson said. But the big thing is to not make the same mistake twice. Now, as Newman prepares to head to Chicago for the Bears’ rookie minicamp, he takes these lessons with him. 

“Just not being a repeat offender and any of those habitual mistakes rookies tend to make, especially on the offensive line, and just showing the coaches that you’re progressing day in, day out and that they’re seeing improvement from you, that’s a huge way they keep you around,” Newman says. “That tells them, ‘hey, we can develop this kid to be a big contributor for our team in the future.’ ” 

There’s been a lot that has prepared Newman for his moment. At Holy Cross, he manned an offensive line that included Hanson, who is currently in the NFL; Eric Schon, who played for Duke this past season; Christo Kelly, who will play for Bill Belichick at UNC this fall; and McMurtrie, who will play for Coach Chesney at James Madison again this year. Over the course of his five year collegiate career, Newman played in 52 games, including 49 consecutive starts. And he has experience playing all over the offensive line. 

The common thread uniting all of these preparatory steps is Newman putting himself in uncomfortable positions. Just as he has done his entire football career up to this point, Newman plans to rise to the occasion no matter what’s thrown at him. He’s done it before, so why not do it again? 

“Anytime I’m struggling in a practice, I’m not quite getting something, I’ll [tell] myself, ‘hey, how many times have you been in this situation before, when you were a sophomore and you didn’t quite know how to run this certain play, or when you were at Michigan State and you weren’t quite comfortable working with the tackle next to you, you’re used to something different?’ And just remember that I’ve been in these situations before,” Newman says. “And even though now it’s at a professional level where jobs are at stake, and performance is vital to your survival in the NFL… that all is going to play a part in it. But I think just reminding myself that, ‘hey, you’ve overcome stuff before, you can do it again,’ and then just going out and doing it, trying to play with that same confidence and mojo that I’ve had the last five years, and trying to carry that over.”

Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics