High School

Mercer lacrosse lands a face-off ace from Loyola Blakefield

The Dons' Laird Nugent will head to Georgia for college career

Al Franyo

Loyola Blakefield face-off specialist Laird Nugent has committed to play his college lacrosse for the Mercer Bears in Macon, Georgia.
Loyola Blakefield face-off specialist Laird Nugent has committed to play his college lacrosse for the Mercer Bears in Macon, Georgia. / Photo courtesy of Jenny Nugent

To get this first weekend in November of 2024 rolling, we have a commitment announcement to make regarding a 2025 MIAA Lacrosse student-athlete who is headed south for his college days.

Laird Nugent of Loyola Blakefield has chosen a program that competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and currently has a strong and somewhat underrated recruiting pipeline with the MIAA. The Dons' face-off man committed to the Mercer Bears, who are located in Macon, Georgia, on Wednesday. The Bears are led by coach Ryan Danehy.

Laird decided on a program that sports orange and black. Considering those are the Bears' colors, how fitting and ironic that he announced his choice the day before the famous holiday known for those colors!? 

Laird explained his decision to High School On SI.

"I chose Mercer because it was exactly what I wanted in a school – a competitive environment much like the MIAA and has all of my academic wants as well," said Laird. "Thank you to Coach Danehy, Coach Kingsbury, and Coach Sanna for giving me this opportunity!"

Many congrats to Laird and his family.

Like several other coaches previously mentioned, Coach Danehy is the latest college lacrosse to become his program's third head coach over a relatively a short period of time. In Mercer's case, he is the third head coach in the last four years, but he has started to put down roots. He will be in year number three in the spring. And, by the time Laird takes the field for the Bears in 2026, a much larger group of the players in the roster will have been recruited by Danehy for his system.

Might they start surprising people soon?

Going back to the pipeline between the MIAA and Mercer, one can say it is in decent shape. Three products are currently on the Bears' roster and three more, including Laird, are on the way from the Class of 2025. It certainly doesn't hurt that Brian Kingsbury, a St. Mary's grad, is on Mercer's coaching staff. 

Loyola Blakefield's Laird Nugen
With Laird Nugent's commitment, Mercer is building quite a pipeline with MIAA lacrosse talent. / Photo courtesy of Jenny Nugent
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Al Franyo
AL FRANYO

Al Franyo has been a die-hard fan and follower of lacrosse, especially at the high school and college levels, since the late-80s. He absolutely loves watching games, as well as talking and writing about the sport. On Facebook, he founded the College Lacrosse Discussion Page, which has well over 15,000 members, and helped found and runs the MIAA Lacrosse Discussion Page, which has nearly 5,000 members. The MIAA A Conference is one of the strongest, most competitive and exciting high school conferences in America. Three of his favorite topics include recruiting news about players making college commitments, programs taking the next steps under their respective head coaches, and programs that are so-called "sleepers" when it comes to being very good to great. Even with lacrosse growing at such a rapid pace, Franyo loves how it is still such a small, tight, and fun world. And, in many ways, it is its own culture. He began writing about his favorite sport for High School On SI in 2024. Twitter: @alfranyo

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