Ever since he was in elementary school, Royce Lofton knew he liked playing linebacker on his football team.
Now a senior weak-side linebacker at Columbus North, Lofton still enjoys playing the position.
“I love hitting,” Lofton said. “The strong side is a lot more coverage, and the weak side is a lot more filling gaps and getting tackles, and that’s what I love about the weak side — just hitting. Even in PAAL (youth football), I just loved to hit kids. That was my thing.”
Lofton has done plenty of hitting this year. He leads North with 79 tackles going into Friday’s sectional semifinal against Class 6A No. 1 Center Grove.
“I think he’s grown tremendously,” said North head coach Tim Bless, who also coaches the linebackers. “He’s been a physical, athletic, strong kid, and this year, he’s become a student of the game. He has a high football IQ, and his instincts have carried him in several games. Royce is definitely a student of the game, and you find that pretty regularly with coaches’ kids.”
Those qualities serve the 5-foot-9, 205-pound Lofton well.
“He is a very weight room-strong football player,” Bless said. “He also has good measurables in our (Strength, Agility, Quickness) program. He’s not a tall kid, but he has all the measurables you’re looking for in a football player.”
Lofton grew up around the North program. His father Brady was the head coach at Northside Middle School and has been on the Bull Dogs freshman coaching staff the past three years. This year, Brady is North’s defensive backs coach.
“It’s been great,” Royce said. “He holds me to a higher standard, and I really love that. He wants me to be the best I possibly can, and I don’t think I’d be the player I am today without him.”
When he was in elementary school, Royce would sometimes join Bless’ son Luke and Hayden McDaniel on the North sidelines as ball boys. Royce now plays alongside Luke, who is the Bull Dogs’ middle linebacker, while McDaniel is a wide receiver.
When Royce wasn’t on the sidelines as a ball boy, he was in the stands focused on the game.
“North-East games, I’d come in here, and all the other kids would come down here and be running around, and I would always sit with my parents and watch,” Royce said. “That was my dream — to play Friday nights.”
Royce was able to do that beginning his sophomore year. He played a little bit of safety that season before returning to his more natural spot at linebacker.
“I switched to safety my sophomore year because I thought I could start, but I didn’t,” Lofton said. “So I switched back to linebacker. I don’t think I should have ever gone with safety. I think I should have just stayed at linebacker. Coach Bless is an amazing coach. He really helped me with being a linebacker.”
The past two years, Royce also has filled in as a backup running back. Last year, he was their second-leading rusher, carrying 48 times for 253 yards and four touchdowns while spelling Blake Huffman, who was slowed by an ankle injury.
This season, Lofton had six carries for 19 yards and a score through four games, but since the emergence of Dyllan Redmon as a backup to Huffman, Lofton has played exclusively on defense.
“I was just there when the team needed me,” Lofton said. “I did my best, but Dyllan is a great running back. He’s backing up Blake, and I’m glad he’s there.”
“He is a very versatile player for us,” Bless added. “He plays a lot of special teams for us. He plays really as many snaps as anybody.”
Prior to this season, Lofton was selected as one of the team captains.
“What I love about Royce is, he loves the game of football, and he loves the Columbus North Bull Dogs,” Bless said. “That’s a great example that he’s shown to his younger teammates.”
Lofton is hoping to play football in college. He has talked to coaches at Division III Wilmington (Ohio) and Concordia (Illinois) and wants to major in exercise science.
“My dad was going to play at Northern Illinois, but he tore his ACL, and that ended his career,” Lofton said. “So I’ve always wanted to follow his footsteps and go play college ball.”
First, he’ll try to help the Bull Dogs upset Center Grove on Friday. North went 6-2 in the regular season, with only four-point losses to Columbus East and Roncalli, and won the Conference Indiana title with a 5-0 record.
“It’s been a great season,” Lofton said. “It’s been better than last year. I think right now, we should be 8-0, but we didn’t have the best games we should have had against East and Roncalli. But conference champs, we’re doing what we can. We’re preparing for Center Grove as much as we can. We’ve had two weeks to do it, and I think we’re going to go in as prepared as possible.”
