Jaylen Newkirk takes ‘a huge step forward’ as Grayslake North’s QB

Some players are given an opportunity to fill supporting roles in their transition to varsity football. Grayslake North quarterback Jaylen Newkirk is not one of them.

After a large class graduated in 2025, including standout quarterback Mitchell Hughes, Newkirk was named Hughes’ successor at the beginning of his sophomore season. He had played wide receiver as a freshman.

“I look back at last year with a lot of mixed emotions,” he said. “I didn’t know I had the job until a couple of days before our first scrimmage. I was happy but knew there was going to be a lot of pressure, partly because the quarterback before me was really good.

“But I took it all in and tried to show everyone what I’m capable of.”

Newkirk got a crash course in varsity football with a young core around him, and Grayslake North won only one game. But the experience proved valuable for Newkirk, who is one of the breakout players in Lake County in his junior season.

The Knights (2-0), who scored 94 points all of last season, are averaging 41 through two nonconference games, and the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Newkirk has produced eight touchdowns. They’ll begin the Northern Lake County Conference schedule on Friday with a game against North Chicago.

“There was a lot of guessing last year and not totally knowing what I was going to do with the ball,” Newkirk said. “But looking back on it now, especially with these first two wins, it was beneficial going through that.”

Newkirk learned he could be effective without throwing the ball at times.

“About midday through the year, I could see that my running ability was working,” he said. “I found out that I had the speed and the length in my stride to make plays.

“I don’t want to be running all the time, but the coaches saw it, and there are now plays we have to help take advantage.”

During the Knights’ season-opening 42-21 win over 2025 playoff qualifier Vernon Hills, Newkirk threw for two touchdowns and ran for two others, part of his 98-yard rushing effort. Then he threw three TD passes and ran for a TD during the Knights’ 40-7 win over Wheeling last week.

“Last year, the whole process of being a quarterback was foreign to him, just getting the snap, calling the play, getting guys out of the huddle, the non-football mechanics,” Grayslake North coach Brian Johnson said. “Obviously, the maturity of being a year older helps, and he’s also throwing the ball better now.

“With a year under his belt, he’s made a huge step forward.”

Last week, Newkirk’s three TD passes went to different receivers, none of whom are seniors. In fact, the vast majority of the players in the Knights’ offense are sophomores and juniors. Newkirk praised one group in particular.

“Honestly, a lot of the credit goes to my offensive line,” he said. “Last year, it seemed like I was being pressured in about two seconds. But I have a lot more time now. They’re doing an outstanding job, and I love them to death for helping protect me.”

Newkirk is particularly close to one of those linemen, junior center Alex Danzy, who is his uncle. Danzy, whose older sister is Newkirk’s mother, moved from Michigan into Newkirk’s home in eighth grade.

“Things are a lot easier when you live with the captain of your offensive line,” Newkirk said.

But Newkirk put in the work to make things easier. He spent the offseason focusing on what he didn’t do particularly well last year and did a lot of film study.

Newkirk also competed in the high jump for the first time, and he did so well that he advanced to the Class 2A state meet in May.

“I can dunk a basketball really easily, but (the high jump) was really difficult at first because of the weird way you have to rotate your body,” he said. “At the start, I wasn’t thinking too much about it.

“But then I won my first indoor meet and first outdoor meet and started thinking that I was pretty good at it. It brought out the competitor in me.”

Over the summer, Newkirk began exhibiting another trait that’s important for a quarterback.

“He’s very accountable, and that’s something that has spread to the whole team,” Grayslake North junior slotback Lucas Woyat said. “During practice, if he sees someone doing something wrong, he’ll explain how to do it without yelling at someone. The message is that by doing it the right way, it will help the team.”

Newkirk recognizes that the Knights’ prospects are intertwined with his.

“I knew this year would be different and knew I could be a difference-maker,” he said. “I didn’t want people to think of me as someone running around throwing interceptions and of us being a 1-8 team.”