Soft spoken with a mean streak, Lucas Altier anchors massive Norwin offensive line

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, August 18, 2025 | 4:51 PM

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Lucas Altier’s goals for his senior season are larger than he is.

Unproven and hefty, the Norwin football player stands 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 315 pounds.

He naturally stands out.

“He’s the biggest kid I have coached,” Knights coach Mike Brown said of the right tackle. “This is the biggest line I’ve ever had.”

Altier is soft spoken and articulate, unassuming and friendly. Until the pads go on.

“He does have a mean streak,” Norwin line coach Anthony Giansante said. “He just hasn’t really been able to show it. He has only played five varsity games. We’re excited to see what he can do.”

Altier has limited experience after a leg injury terminated early his junior season. He broke his right fibula in Week 2 against Latrobe, where his cousin, Nick, is an assistant coach.

A member of Norwin’s 1,000-pound weightlifting club, Altier is healthy again after an offseason of recovery and rehab.

“He really doesn’t have a ceiling because he hasn’t played much,” Brown said. “Gaining that confidence is what is going to help him the most.”

And to think Altier grew into football. He picked up the game in seventh grade, long before his body started filling out. He played soccer until sixth grade and baseball until ninth.

“I was always the smallest kid, to be honest,” he said. “The skinniest kid.”

Size, though, could be his gateway to college. Altier has attended a Division I camp at Fordham and visited Lehigh and Akron. Schools like his roster specs, but have little live action to go on.

“They want to see more film,” Altier said. “I want to show what I can do in my last year of (high school) football. I want to let my play on the field do the talking.”

That is where the next few months come in. Altier is hoping to put some pancake blocks and touchdown-springing protection on video to give Division I coaches something to think about.

He can’t wait to get back on the field again and feel the emotion of game night.

“It was tough being on the sidelines,” he said. “I want to be more aggressive on the field. I want to get back out there and hit somebody who isn’t on my team. “

Altier is active in a number of activities and groups at Norwin, including the school show choir.

If Norwin lives up to its potential, he could be singing baritone from the trenches.

Altier has plenty of support from family and friends who want to see him back on the field. His biggest fan — and inspiration — happens to be the same person, his older brother, Anthony.

Anthony Altier, 20, has Down syndrome but that hasn’t stopped him from attending the St. Anthony’s program at Duquesne University.

Lucas lights up like the light standards after a Norwin touchdown when Anthony’s name comes up in conversation.

“My job is to protect him,” Lucas Altier said. “That is what I wrote my college essay about; I protect the quarterback in football, and I protect my brother. He has shaped me into the person I want to be. There are a lot of bad people in the world. I just want to help him get through it.”

Anthony Altier has become a fan favorite in the Knights’ student section at games. Now, he’ll be able to watch his brother play again.

“I hope so,” Lucas Altier said. “We have a lot of size and I think we can be pretty good. Our smallest guy is like 260. We have to work as a team and be on the same page. Like our coaches say, if one guy is off (on a play), it won’t work.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin