‘Underrecruited’ Adam Schilling is Wheaton North’s unquestioned leader

The Wheaton North locker room was buzzing.

After an 18-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds remaining in the first half, the visiting Falcons’ held a 23-14 lead over No. 2 Geneva through two quarters with a spot in the Class 6A quarterfinals on the line.

Wheaton North lost 42-14 in its first matchup with its DuKane Conference rival in early October. This time around, a fast start had the Falcons in the driver’s seat.

Wheaton North senior Adam Schilling wasn’t going to squander the opportunity.

“He took charge,” recalled Jack Clark, a senior safety for the Falcons. “Really hyping the team up, giving a speech.”

Schilling is the unquestioned leader of the No. 7-seeded Falcons on their quest for the school’s first state title since 2021. The 6-foot-5 tight end and linebacker has been Wheaton North’s engine on both sides of the ball, providing a safety blanket for sophomore quarterback Grant Neibch on offense while racking up 57 tackles on defense. Schilling was the school’s lone selection to the Class 6A All-State First Team when it was announced on Tuesday.

The moment meant more to him than most.

Schilling tore his PCL in Week 5 of his junior season, and he watched from the sidelines as the Falcons lost four of their final five games to miss the playoffs. Wheaton North head coach Joe Wardynski said Schilling played a “manager” role down the stretch in 2025, working with the Falcons’ second team to prepare them to make up for his absence on both sides of the ball.

“I want to see this program and all the players in it succeed. And when I wasn't able to do that myself, I wanted to make sure that someone else had a chance to do that,” Schilling said. “I was just grateful for that opportunity to be a leader to some of those guys that wouldn't necessarily have gotten chances if I didn't get injured.”

Recruiting slowed as well. Schilling had been in contact with a number of Power Four programs before the injury, including Cincinnati and Minnesota. More than 13 months later, Schilling has picked up just one Division I offer, from St. Thomas.

It’s been a long year.

“I told them to be ready for anything,” Schilling said of his halftime speech against Geneva. “I told them to come out with the same energy we had in the first half, to stay focused, to stay loose.”

Wheaton North held on to complete the upset by the skin of its teeth, needing a 17-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Grant Neibch to Johnny Clayton with under 10 seconds remaining to scrape out a 36-35 victory. Schilling was the first to meet Clayton in the end zone, swallowing the 6-foot-1 senior wideout in a bear hug as he deliriously dragged his teammate toward the north bleachers.

“It meant the world,” Schilling said. “The whole week we said that we had a chance to right our wrongs. The whole team believed in each other. Our energy never wavered.”

Wardynski is eager to sing the praises of his captain. He compares Schilling to Wheaton North alums Xander and Erik Mueller, both of whom played linebacker for Northwestern, and he cannot wrap his head around why college coaches aren’t paying more attention to the star of the quarterfinal-bound Falcons.

“It boggles my mind, truly,” Wardynski said. “It’s frustrating as a high school coach when you can’t even get looks for a kid that’s as good as he is. He is one of the best players in our conference for sure. Very rarely on a Friday do we walk off the field and say there was a kid on the other team that was better than him.”

Schilling acknowledged that “it kind of sucked” to see his recruitment slow down following his injury, adding that he is “obviously grateful for the coaches that continue to believe and talk to me.”

Wardynski commends Schilling for keeping a level head throughout the recruiting process, and he maintains that Schilling has handled it “way better than anybody I could imagine.”

“He is a high-character kid. I think his teammates respect him for the person that he is, and they obviously respect him because he’s the best player on our team,” Wardynski said. “When you’re a good kid and a good player, it makes it easy to be a leader. And he’s embraced that role.”