Center Grove doesn’t rebuild. It reloads. That’s not a cliché when you’re talking about a program that has put three players into the NFL in recent years — Carson Steele with the Kansas City Chiefs, Russ Yeast drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, and defensive end Austin Booker with the Chicago Bears. The Trojans aren’t just one of the best programs in Indiana. They are one of the most productive player development programs in the entire state, and the next name in line at running back is starting to make his case.

Meet Ricky Lange.

The 5-foot-10, 170-pound tailback enters his junior season as one of the more intriguing prospects in the Class of 2028, coming off a sophomore year that produced 926 yards of total offense and 13 touchdowns. The film backs up the numbers. Lange is a shifty, explosive runner — the kind of back who can make the first man miss, accelerate through a crease, and turn a routine carry into a house call. His best showcase last season came in a 31-20 victory over Ohio powerhouse Trotwood-Madison, where he carried the ball 24 times for 161 yards and added three catches. Against a program of that caliber, those numbers mean something.

The standard he’s chasing in that backfield is well-documented. Carson Steele finished his Center Grove career with 5,907 rushing yards and 82 touchdowns, won Indiana Mr. Football in 2020, and led the Trojans to a Class 6A state championship before eventually earning a spot on the Kansas City Chiefs’ 53-man roster. That’s the shadow over the position. Lange knows it exists and he isn’t running from it.

What drives him is more personal than accolades or comparisons.

“What motivates me is God, my mom, and brothers,” Lange said. “I want to make them proud and prove to them that I can make a difference in our family.”

His path to the game traces back to his older brother Cameron Freeman, who first put a football in his hands. Lange grew up playing on the south side of Indianapolis, starting in flag football and eventually moving to tackle football at Perry before finding his way to Greenwood and one of the state’s premier programs. The speed was always there — his parents put him in organized sports early to channel it. Now that speed is running behind one of the better offensive lines in the state, and the results are starting to reflect it.

The offseason has been straightforward for Lange. No reinventing the wheel. Just work.

“Planning over the offseason for me has been constant weight gaining and lifting a lot,” he said. “I can play as perfect as I can to help my teammates and coaches win the game. I enjoy winning with my boys and celebrating in the locker room, creating fun and funny memories.”

On the recruiting front, the board is still open. No offers yet, but the junior season ahead is the one that typically changes that conversation for prospects at his level. He’s shown interest in Butler, Toledo, and Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes. His approach to the process reflects a maturity that goes beyond football — Lange is clear that academics drive the decision as much as anything on the field.

“What I’m most looking for in a college is good academics, not just a good football team, because I also want to have a secondary plan just in case anything happens,” he said. “Whatever God blesses me with, any college I am grateful. It doesn’t matter if it’s Division I or Division II.”

That perspective will serve him well regardless of where the recruiting trail leads.

On the field, the stakes for Center Grove in 2026 are significant. Head coach Eric Moore’s program has been one of the state’s most dominant for years, but back-to-back semi-state exits in 2023 and 2024 gave way to a 2025 regional loss to Warren Central — the program’s first exit at that stage since 2017. The Trojans haven’t been back to Lucas Oil since their last championship run, and the hunger to get there is real.

Lange’s junior season is the opportunity. A full year as the featured back in one of Indiana’s most prestigious offenses, running behind experienced linemen, in a program built to put players in the best possible position to succeed — and ultimately, to win in November. That environment produces results. It produced Steele. It produced a pipeline of talent that the state still talks about.

Ricky Lange is next. The backfield is his. Now he has to go show why.

Indiana Preps covers high school athletics, recruiting, and athlete development across the state of Indiana.