‘Edgy’ Tim: Area football recruits keeping busy

Hersey junior quarterback Jake Nawrot (6-foot-5, 200 pounds) added his latest scholarship offer from the Kansas Jayhawks.

Nawrot, who set multiple school passing records in 2025 along with leading the Huskies to the Class 7A state quarterfinals for the first time since 1987, recapped his football recruiting.

“The scholarship offer from Kansas was a little bit of a surprise,” Nawrot said. “It just happened on a random weekday. The Kansas coaches had me reach out to them and I had a really good conversation with them, including offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski. I made a game day visit to Kansas early in the season. When they offered me the scholarship I was on a FaceTime call and wearing a KU shirt which was a pretty cool coincidence.”

Nawrot has also continued to draw recruiting attention from several schools this winter.

“Besides Kansas, I have offers now from Northwestern, Missouri, Purdue, Toledo and Miami of Ohio,” he said. “I was able to make game day visits to Kansas, Purdue, Iowa, Missouri and Northwestern. I really enjoyed all of the game day visits. Missouri was my first ever SEC game and that was impressive. I watched Northwestern when they played at Wrigley Field and that was another fun game. Just getting to connect with the different coaches in person at each school was a real positive from those game day visits.”

Look for Nawrot, who also plays basketball at Hersey, to continue working at both sports this offseason.

“Once the basketball season is over, I'll go back to playing 7-on-7 for TNT along with playing some AAU basketball as well.”

Coles getting back to work

Barrington junior wide receiver Austin Coles (6-4, 190 pounds), a three-star recruit by Rivals, is already back to work and preparing for his 2026 season. Coles, who was named as an all-conference and All-Area player in 2025, breaks down his season and recaps his latest recruiting news.

“Once the season ended I went right back to work and getting ready for next year,” Coles said. “I’m going to play again with South Florida Express for 7-on-7 this offseason and I’m actually going to be in Miami this weekend working out with my team.”

Coles recapped his latest football recruiting news.

“I wound up making game day visits during the season to Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin,” he said. “I had other schools that invited me to see a game but I couldn’t make it that weekend. The game day visits all went well. All three visits were good experiences. I was able to just vibe with the coaches at each school and just getting a better feel for each school and team. The feedback from the college coaches was positive. They all like my game and want me to stay in touch with them. I don’t have any visits planned just yet. Indiana has invited me to a junior day and Penn State has started to show more interest in me lately.

Coles was asked to break down his on-the-field performance from this past season.

“I would give myself a letter grade of a ‘B’ for the season,” he said. “I was able to develop my game more and I felt I was more of a leader for my team this past season. The game definitely started to slow down for me. I’m working now on adding a bit more good weight and strength. I’m at 199 pounds right now and my goal is to get to say 215-220 pounds. Positionally, I feel that I’m a wide receiver and that’s my most comfortable position but I’m very open to playing tight end in college.”

Vander Luitgaren hitting the road

Batavia junior quarterback Michael Vander Luitgaren (6-2, 190 pounds) is back on the offseason grind after a highly successful 2025 season.

“Once the season ended I’ve been back in the weight room, training along with getting ready for baseball season,” Vander Luitgaren said. “I’ll get back to throwing with QB Era soon along with working on my overall speed and conditioning.”

Vander Luitgaren, who holds an early offer from Toledo, recapped his game day college visits from the fall.

“I was able to make game day visits during the season to Miami of Ohio, Iowa and also Western Michigan,” he said. “I visited Miami of Ohio when they played UNLV and that was when they offered me a scholarship.

“I had additional game day invites from NIU, New Mexico, Wyoming along with San Diego State. Iowa State was in school during the season before the coaching change and they also invited me to a game day visit but it just didn’t work out. I’ve stayed in pretty regular contact with Iowa and offensive coordinator Tim Lester. Coach Lester said he would be back in school after the dead period ends and he wants to watch me throw.”

So how well did he perform in 2025 and what needs to improve in his overall game?

“My letter grade for my overall game this season would probably be an ‘A’ overall,” he said. “Our offense was able to really ramp things up this year and we really clicked.

“I still have a lot to work on and improve this winter. Just becoming more comfortable in the pocket is a big focus. Getting faster overall and have better speed is another key for this offseason.”