#32 Justin Hughes

Redshirt Sophomore | 6-1 | 227 lbs. | Tucker, Georgia

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

• Position: Linebacker
• Previous College: None
• Projection: Third-String
• Status: On Scholarship

Justin Lorenz Hughes (b. Jan. 3, 1996) is an athletic player who will compete for playing time at both linebacker and on special teams as a sophomore. He was the first, but not last, prospect Andre Coleman pulled out of the Deep South to come to K-State.

Hughes played under head coach Bryan Lamar for Tucker High School, where he helped the Tigers to earn a 14-1 record and a trip to the state championship game.

He was named a first-team all-state honoree in 2013 by the Georgia Sportswriters, while he was an All-DeKalb County pick by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and rated as the nation’s 70th-best outside linebacker by ESPN.

Hughes was selected to play in the Florida-Georgia All-Star Game after totaling more than 180 tackles over his junior and senior seasons. He was high school teammates with fellow defenders Duke Shelley and Elijah Sullivan.

Hughes originally enrolled at Kansas State in 2014, redshirted in 2015 and did not see any game action in 2016. He started for the White team in the 2016 spring game and collected one tackle — of the slippery Dalvin Warmack.