Grayslake N. takes new approach

When assessing his Grayslake North football program after its third varsity season last year, Steve Wood came to a conclusion.

Despite what he called "absolutely great coaches" on his staff, a collective 1-27 record wasn't cutting it.

So the head coach recruited another absolutely great coach, and he got him. Brian Johnson left Libertyville's successful program to serve as Wood's offensive coordinator.

"I finally lured him over," Wood said.

Johnson teaches at Grayslake Central, and both he and Wood worked on head coach Vito Andriola's staff at Grayslake. Grayslake football - North or Central - hasn't experienced success since Andriola coached Grayslake to 8 wins and a playoff berth in 2003.

"I knew our No. 1 priority was that I needed to get Brian Johnson over here," Wood said. "I put it at the top of the chart. I said this is the first thing I got to do."

Wood wound up reshuffling his whole staff. While no one left, coaches changed roles. Wood himself relinquished offensive-play-calling duties to secure Johnson and now will call the defenses.

"Coach (Andy) Strahan, who was our defensive coordinator, is helping me so that I don't make too many mistakes," Wood said with a smile.

The Knights could have some good nights offensively, starting tonight at home against first-year Woodstock North. Johnson will be able to call plays for speedy running back Glenn Mizowek and quarterback Sean Brennan, who took over the starting job toward the end of last season.

"Sean's had a phenomenal summer," Wood said. "The maturity that he's shown and the development that he's shown has really been great."

Other returnees on offense include split end Matt Robinson, fullback Mike Fraley, tackle Kyle Parr and guard Kevin Siebert. Parr will be playing his third season on varsity.

The defensive veterans include nose guard Andy Williams, linebacker Jackson Grischeau, safety Ross Sauer and end Taylor Manuel, who started last season's opener but broke his leg.

Wood is intrigued by junior end David Anderson (6-2, 200).

"He's a big, strong, physical kid," Wood said. "He hasn't played a lot of football so every day you can just see improvement with him."

Senior Brandon Sackett moves from nose guard to middle linebacker. He has the potential to be an impact player with his sideline-to-sideline speed.

The Knights scored only 81 points last year and surrendered 355. They boast new synthetic turf and will try to look as spiffy as their field.

It's up to them.

"In the past it's always been ourselves that has kept us from being successful," Wood said. "We're trying to fix that this year and concentrate on doing the little things."