The Green Bay Packers went with the pass rush for their first priority in the draft of the Jordan Love era. Lukas Van Ness has been all around the Midwest to play football. He grew up playing high school football in Barrington, Illinois. Van Ness played his college football days at Iowa. Now Van Ness is moving to Wisconsin to play football for the Packers. He was asked about his sports allegiances growing up.
Lukas Van Ness on Chicago sports
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After the draft, Peter King with Football Morning in America talked with Lukas Van Ness. King asked Van Ness if it was “weird” for him to play for the Packers since he grew up in Barrington, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Van Ness said he appreciates the Packers’ history, but he was more into hockey than football as a kid:
“I was a lot more of a Blackhawks fan growing up. But I’m a Midwest boy. Grew up in Chicago, went to school at Iowa, now playing in Wisconsin. It feels right. I appreciate the culture and history of the Packers. My girlfriend is the sister of the Bears’ tight end (Cole Kmet). I’ve thought about playing against him. We have a good relationship. It’ll be a friendly competition, but we’ll compete.”
Van Ness was wise to avoid the topic of the Chicago Bears. Van Ness’ new teammate, quarterback Sean Clifford, had an old Tweet go viral with a derogatory message for the Packers after a playoff loss. It shouldn’t matter who Van Ness and Clifford grew up fans of now that they’ve been drafted. They have a job to do: playing football for the Packers. When their career is done, they’ll have all the time in the world to be a fan again.
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