Prep football: Indiana commit Purcell ready to lead Maine South

Jameson Purcell is unflappable.

Whether it is in school, in training or on the football field, the Maine South quarterback doesn’t get flustered.

That includes with area quarterback rankings, where Purcell comes in at times at fourth. He has been ranked behind Montini’s Israel Abrams and Hersey’s Jake Nawrot, along with, at times, former Carmel quarterback Trae Taylor, who transferred this spring to a high school near Omaha, Neb. Purcell is also ranked national as the 20th best high school quarterback recruit for his upcoming senior season.

That could be frustrating to a player who is committed to defending FBS national champion Indiana. But those rankings don’t even raise an eye for Purcell.

“I'm fine with it, “Purcell said with a huge smile. “I love that, like underdog mentality. … Look at Tom Brady, look at all those great players. It's just those people who have that underdog mentality and just know what potential they have.”

Maine South has produced great quarterbacks including Matt Alviti, who played at Northwestern, Sean Price, who played at Central Michigan, Vanderbilt’s Charlie Goro and Tyler Benz, who started at Eastern Michigan for two seasons.

Purcell became the starting quarterback at Maine South during his sophomore year. The Hawks were 1-3 when they moved him into the starting lineup.

Purcell drove the Hawks to seven consecutive victories before losing to eventual state champion Loyola in the Class 8A quarterfinals. He threw for 2,539 yards and 32 touchdowns that season.

Last season, he led his team to a 10-2 record and another trip to the quarterfinals, where his team lost to Oswego. Purcell began to really show his dual threat ability, rushing for 297 yards and 10 touchdowns to go with his 31 touchdown passes and 3,001 passing yards.

“I just keep working,” Purcell said. “Because if you're already at the top, it's very hard to keep having a driven mindset into that. I like it, because I got a chip on my shoulder.”

Purcell went to the Elite 11 camp in the spring to help keep his skills razor sharp. He also got to meet some of the top high school quarterbacks in the country and work out side by side with them.

“That was a great experience, and to just bond with all those top quarterbacks was awesome,” Purcell said. “I have been working to really just lock in and be ready to play real football with my team.”

Maine South coach Dave Inserra, who has been at the helm of the Hawks’ program for 25 years, said Purcell looks better than ever.

“He throws a nice deep ball,” Inserra said. “And he's got great mechanics. His game now has got to be absolute leadership of an offense that's probably slightly younger than last year. A lot of experience, but he's got to be the alpha, he's got to be the absolute leader.”

Purcell showed off those abilities and leadership last Wednesday at the annual Central Suburban 7-on-7 invite at Maine West in Des Plaines.

Purcell looked game ready, especially in his team’s matchup with Lyons Twp. In that matchup, Purcell led the Hawks on four consecutive scoring drives. He dropped in a pair of long passes for touchdowns like he was using a laser sight.

“He looks better than he did last year,” Inserra said. “And he should … He is a senior and he's had another year of training, so yeah, he looked really good in this one.”

Purcell has also been in contact with members of the Indiana coaching staff a few times per week. He has visited Bloomington and looks forward to being a Hoosier

“I've been down, I had my official visit over (Little) 500 weekend, which was fun,” Purcell said. “And then I've been down like two other times to recruit and just hang out with the coaches, so that's been a lot of fun as well.”

Purcell said his focus now is Maine South football.

“I'm a football guy,” Purcell said. “I don't like throwing in T-shirt and shorts, like that's not my type of game. When it comes to on-field performance and team-related stuff, like that's me. I'm a team-driven guy that likes the team mindset. I don't care about stats. I just want to win with my team.”