Purple lanes: Three-year starter Engstler paves way for DGN success
Downers Grove North has been through an impressive run of athletic success, and not just in football.
Senior offensive tackle Tyler Engstler is a good representative of that Purple Surge.
He has older siblings who starred in basketball and volleyball at the school. He's a third-year varsity starter who has already been through seven playoff games and watched from the sidelines as a freshman when the Trojans took second in the state.
“I know I have the responsibility to teach the grades that are younger than me,” Engstler said. “I feel I have the responsibility to be a great mentor for the juniors, the same way I had when I was young.”
He credited Nate Woods as a Class of ‘25 senior who showed him the ropes two years ago when he took over at left guard as a sophomore. Engstler has since moved to right guard last year and right tackle this season, as well as adding some defensive line duties.
Downers North (6-0), if it can win out the next three weeks, is on pace to be the No. 1 playoff seed in Class 7A.
“It was being thrown into the fire (as a sophomore), but I can't say I didn't love it,” Engstler said. “I had a ton of great older teammates. (Woods) helped me get astronomically better at football — learning how to pull, getting my eyes right, looking inside.
Asked if he had a “welcome to varsity football” moment, he said it actually happened his freshman year, when he played on the sophomore team and quickly got knocked on his back.
“It was my first game playing up against Downers Grove South and a kid busted a run to the outside,” Engstler said. “I started chasing him and this huge lineman blindsided me. I saw my cleats and the sunset at the same time.
“That was really shocking to me at the moment, but I'd never been more excited to get better.”
This season, the Trojans have employed a mostly ground-oriented offense, designed to spring big-play backs like Grant Georgas, who ran for 250 yards last week.
There are some veterans on the offensive line, but DGN also lost a returning starter to a knee injury. So linebacker Jacoby Jostes moved over to guard and has been playing next to Engstler.
“He's been around a lot of good DGN football, played a lot of tough games and big moments,” head coach Joe Horeni said.
“I think his wealth of understanding of our offensive scheme has really helped him speed along some of our guys that haven't had a ton of varsity reps.”
There's one thing Horeni doesn't understand about Engstler's senior season — why he's not getting more college interest.
“It's baffling,” Horeni said. “He's 6-5 and he weighs 250 pounds, but maybe you don't see the athleticism he has as an offensive lineman.
“He can dunk a basketball. His 40-yard dash is really good. If we had a wealth of offensive linemen, he'd probably play defensive end only. Maybe his measurables in terms of the length of his arms are not what people like, but he's like a freak athletically, in my opinion.”
Summer baseball limited Engstler's availability to attend football camps in the summer. He does have the grades to get Ivy League attention, but so far the interest has been limited to Division II and III. He made a game-day visit to Central Michigan a few weeks ago, so he's still on the radar.
“I want to play college football,” he said. “I'm going to, regardless of how the rest of my recruiting process goes.”
Maybe there will be plenty of highlights to add to his film if DGN makes another long playoff run. The Trojans have beaten four teams with at least four wins, so the winning tradition still has plenty of momentum.
“There were a lot of growing pains in summer, but this team never shied away from that,” Engstler said. “Everywhere, every position, we have tons of people that just want to play football and have a hunger for the game. I'm really proud of the way this team attacked this season and the expectations.”