One more time: Five local college football players to watch
Let’s do this one more time.
After presenting two lists of local college football players to watch this season, the High Five looks at more players from the area spread throughout the country on FBS college teams.
5. Cael Brezina, LB, Iowa State
The Downers Grove North graduate made an immediate impact as a true freshman last season with the Cyclones.
Brezina made seven starts and played eight games while battling injuries. He notched 22 tackles including three for loss. In his first college game, he had five tackles in a win over Iowa.
Brezina took advantage of his playing time when much of the team’s linebacking corps wound up getting injured. This fall, despite last year’s experience, the sophomore will be in a competition for playing time with so much team depth.
4. Quinn Urwiler, LB, Northern Illinois
Four years since transferring from North Dakota, the Batavia graduate enters the 2025 campaign as a voice of experience for a defense that lost most of its talent from a year ago.
Urwiler, a redshirt senior, played every game last season at linebacker. Like the previous two seasons, he was also a key contributor on special teams.
After totaling 15 tackles in his first two seasons with the Huskies, Urwiler last year had 32 tackles including 16 solos. He played especially well in NIU’s Idaho Potato Bowl win over Fresno State.
3. Jeremiah Pittman, DL, Iowa
Pittman is recovering from an injury suffered during spring ball, but he’s hoping to be ready for his final season of eligibility.
The senior out of St. Viator played in all 13 games last season while piling up 17 tackles from the interior of the line. In the previous two seasons, he played a total of 13 games.
Pittman will be an experienced member of a unit that finished 11th in the nation in points allowed last season.
2. Paolo Gennarelli, OL, Army
From the moment he made his first college start last season, the St. Charles North graduate was a rock at guard for a dominant offensive line.
Gennarelli, now a junior, started all 14 games last season for a team that finished 12-2, won the AAC championship and hammered Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl. Gennarelli helped Army earn the Joe Moore Award honoring the nation’s top offensive line.
Individually, Gennarelli was an AP third-team All-American and a second-team all-AAC honoree. He was named a first-teamer on the all-AAC preseason team.
1. Tyler Duzansky, LS, Penn State
When Duzansky announced his return to Penn State for his redshirt senior season, instead of making a run at the NFL, he solidified the team’s entire special teams unit for 2025.
The long snapper, a St. Francis graduate, played in all 16 games for the Nittany Lions as they advanced to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.
Duzansky was named all-Big Ten third team by the media, honorable mention by the coaches and in the preseason earned a spot on the Patrick Mannelly Award watch list.