Maine South’s Purcell shows at 7-on-7 why he’s a top QB recruit
It may be just July, Maine South quarterback Jameson Purcell already looks like he is in midseason form.
Purcell, who is a junior and threw for over 2,500 yards last season and 30 touchdown passes last year, looked like the four-star recruit he is Wednesday at the Central Suburban Invite 7-on-7 high school football competition at Maine West in Des Plaines.
After a slow first couple of plays, Purcell drove the Hawks to five consecutive touchdown drives against York and Lyons Twp. He made several solid throws and was willing to throw into tight windows for successful completions.
“This is what we try to rep in practice,” Purcell said. “Our practices are as much of a game environment as it is. So when we touch the field for real or in any competition, it is just another down. I do like 7-on-7. But I like 11-on-11 more.”
Purcell is rated a four-star recruit and has 25 Division-I scholarship offers, including from Notre Dame, Northwestern, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Miami. He said he will make his decision before the start of the upcoming high school season.
“Obviously I am focused on high school and our season,” Purcell said. “Spring came in and I went to a lot of places to put everything on the table and measure it out. The timeline is by the end of the summer. So I am still getting through this process. I am happy I have seen all the schools and now it is game time.”
Maine South was one of 24 teams that participated Wednesday at the annual Central Suburban Invite at Maine West in Des Plaines. Along with Maine South, York and Maine West, area teams included Maine East, Dundee-Crown, Grant, Mundelein and Wheeling.
Maine South coach Dave Inserra said that although graduation hit his team hard, his Hawks are working hard to reload.
“It’s a program,” said Inserra, whose team will have a formal scrimmage with St. Charles North on Thursday night. “As seniors graduate it is next man up. The juniors becoming seniors and the underclassmen know they have to step up. So we have some talent there.”
The invitational features 11 teams from the CSL along with 13 teams from various conferences in the area. Each school participated in four matchups with other teams. There is no score kept, with each team receiving 15 minutes on offense and 15 minutes on defense.
“It has been a great event here for some time,” Maine West coach George Klupchak said. “It was started before I came here and I brought my team here to play. My team this season is working hard. They have bought in and we are excited.”
York coach Don Gelsomino‘s team was state runner-up in Class 8A last season. Gelsomino wanted to see whom he had to replace DuPage County All-Area quarterback Bruno Massel, who is headed to play at Indiana.
Gelsomino liked what he saw in both Dominick Alfano and Zach Assad as they vie for the starting job.
“It will help to tie a ton of reps today and see who takes the lead in that battle,” Gelsomino said. “They are both great kids and very talented football players.”
Grant quarterback Matthew Gipson, who along with running back Tyler Zdon and wide receiver Max Hembrey helped lead the Bulldogs to the Class 6A playoffs last season, looked very much in sync already.
Grant coach Tim Norwood said he likes the way his team competed Wednesday.
“Between the three of them, they are all three-year starters,” Norwood said. “We are excited what they can do and we have a lot behind them.”
First-year head coaches Ryan Gronwick from Wheeling and Maine East’s Shane McNally were getting their first looks at their respective teams in competitive situations.
“I saw some very positive things,” Gronwick said. “Defensively, we were flying to the ball. Offensively, there are some things we need to clean up. But a invitational like this is a place where you get an opportunity to learn those things.”
McNally, who previously has been a head coach, said he is trying to get his young team ready to compete.
“We have a very young group, ” McNally said. “They are young in football intelligence. So we are still figuring it out and taking our lumps. But they are picking it up and working hard.”
Both Dundee-Crown and Mundelein have just begun their summer football camps. So John Cowhey of Mundelein and Mike Steinhaus of Dundee-Crown both said their goals may have differed from other teams.
“We are only five days in, so we don’t have a whole lot (of plays) in,” Steinhaus said. “We are almost like an install day here.”
Cowhey said his team is in its sixth day.
“To see our guys competing against other teams is fun,” Cowhey said. “We are going all of July to avoid baseball. Multisport athletes are important to our program. We are taking all this time today to evaluate a lot of guys.”