Excitement abundant around Fox Valley
Optimism doesn't wear a jersey or hit the sled, but it was present on high school football fields throughout Illinois as IHSA-sanctioned practices opened on Monday.
Players from three of Elgin's high schools said they could hardly wait to get back to work with less than three weeks to prepare for the Aug 28-29 kickoff weekend.
"I slept for about four hours," said Elgin senior co-captain Terrance Miller Allen, who last year started 5 games at quarterback for the 1-8 Maroons. "I didn't even want to eat breakfast. My eating is coming out here and grinding. No grind, no shine."
The sentiment was the same on the west side of the Fox River, where rival Larkin began its quest to snap a 13-game losing streak.
"I was happy, just real happy," Larkin two-way lineman Ty Former said of football's return. "I couldn't wait to get out here with my guys and get ready and get started for the season."
The tone was similar at Elgin's Abbott Park, where St. Edward began preparations to defend its Metro Suburban Conference East title. The Green Wave fielded 23 varsity players on Monday, including reigning MSC East offensive player of the year Dwayne Allen, Jr., and MSC East defensive player of the year Jake French.
Allen, who attended summer camps at Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, North Dakota and North Dakota State, rushed for 1,573 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior. After a morning workout on his own, he messaged teammates in anticipation of the scheduled evening practice sessions.
"(I) asked them if they're as ready for football as I am because I'm really excited," Allen said.
French finished his junior season with 77 tackles, 12 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 4 fumble recoveries but said he looked forward to proving himself anew.
"I get to go out and prove to my coaches that I'm back for one last year and I'm going to do whatever I can to help my team win again," he said.
Larkin expects to prove itself on the field after a year of getting accustomed to a new system under coach Dragan Teonic.
"I'm excited about year two," Teonic said. "We've got some good players back, a lot of leadership back from last year, guys who gained 9 games of experience. We have a lot of players who played (varsity) as sophomores back as juniors now, a lot of kids that played as juniors back as seniors and we have a higher number of seniors than we did last year. And we were fortunate to be able to recruit some really good athletes off the basketball team and out of the hallways.
"Now, how is this all going to come together? That's what August is all about."
Elgin High begins a new era under first-year coach Anthony Mason, 28, who played high school football at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee and collegiately at NIU. It has been a whirlwind 11 weeks for the Maroons' new leader since his hiring on May 28. In that span he managed to coach Elgin's summer camp, get married, go on his honeymoon and move to the area.
"I was super pumped and super excited," Mason said of the practice opener. "Nerves didn't really kick in that much until probably we got the field all together and brought the ball bags out and those guys started strapping up. That's when the nerves came in, but it was exciting nerves.
"(Sunday) night was no pressure at all, maybe because I've been seeing them over the summer so we had some contact days and we took advantage of those. (Monday) is kind of another day to win. We were pumped up. Everybody was pumped up. I felt like I was back out there. That first day is an amazing one."