Naperville Central cornerback Eron Kennedy ‘lets the game come to him.’ Division I offers are coming too.

Naperville Central junior cornerback Eron Kennedy understands the virtue of patience, but he’s quick to make a good first impression.

Kennedy was one of six sophomores promoted to the varsity team by coach Mike Ulreich last season. Kennedy started the season opener against Oswego and soon validated Ulreich’s faith in him.

“Probably halfway through the Oswego game, we started playing him on their best receiver,” Ulreich said.

After a Week 2 game against Hinsdale Central, Kennedy’s older teammates said he had been the best player on the field for the Redhawks. He eventually earned all-conference honors and the team’s defensive MVP award.

College coaches have taken notice too. The 5-foot-11, 160-pound Kennedy already has offers from Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, and Ulreich said he expects Kennedy’s recruiting “to blow up” this season.

“I’ve always been competitive,” Kennedy said. “I used to be the type of kid who cried if they lost at anything.

“At cornerback, you can lose reps even if the quarterback doesn’t throw, so I feel like every rep I take very personally. If I lose, I really think about it, and I want to get better because I hate to lose. I just want to do the best I can and win as many reps as possible.”

Kennedy wins more than he loses, but he’s not a big risk-taker.

“The biggest thing, and it’s an intangible, is his patience,” Ulreich said. “The hardest thing for corners at times, especially when the ball is in the air, is they’re impatient. They want to play the ball too early, or they come off the receiver too early.”

Not Kennedy.

“He’s just very patient,” Ulreich said. “He lets the game come to him. He’s got great length, and he’s incredibly fast, but he’s patient.

“The other thing is he loves the physical part of it, too, which is fun to watch. So when he gets to go tackle somebody, that’s fun to watch.”

Kennedy isn’t physically imposing, but he relishes contact.

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger,” he said. “I used to be someone who preferred to play off-man, but I definitely like to press and get physical so I can make sure they don’t have any space and I can suffocate my side.”

Naperville Central junior wide receiver Mark Williams knows how suffocating Kennedy’s coverage can be. They have been friends and teammates for years. Both are fleet-footed and focused.

“I’ve been going against Eron since I was in sixth grade,” Williams said. “We’ve always been competing in every sport we’ve played together. We’ve basically grown up playing football together. He’s really, really good.”

Kennedy’s coaches and teammates attest that his character is just as good.

“He’s extremely humble,” Williams said. “He’s always doing his job. He’s extremely smart. He’s always a step ahead.”

That has given Kennedy a leg up on the competition and has allowed him to set an example for the Redhawks.

“In terms of his character, it’s his humility,” Ulreich said. “As gifted as he is, he’s humble enough to understand that it takes a tremendous amount of work to be really good at something.

“So I think he takes a lot of pride. Whatever he does, he’s going to do it at his very best, and that’s what we love about him.”

Kennedy, who was a state qualifier in track as a freshman, has nearly regained the 10 pounds he lost when he had mononucleosis in the spring. The illness cost him an opportunity to compete in track, but the way he responded gave college coaches another reason to like him.

“After mono, I was coming to camp around 150, and I was still being physical and pressing against 6-1 receivers,” Kennedy said. “They like my grit and how I can play physical despite being lighter than others — and I’m going to bulk up.”

The Redhawks are hoping to bulk up their win total a year after finishing 2-7, their worst record since 1978. Kennedy is hungry for team success.

“I try to take last year with a grain of salt,” he said. “It’s definitely in the back of my mind, but we have a new team, and we’re practicing hard together.

“Instead of being bitter about last year, we need to focus on ourselves now. Our schedule is completely different than last season, and I’m completely confident in the guys that we can go out and win most of our games, if not all.”