5A Sleeper Teams

Glenbard South RB Trevor Burnett

Jake Lemming

July 22, 2020 @ 08:30 AM

Hillcrest 2019 Record: 10-2 The Hawks had a strong 2019 campaign, making it all the way to the quarterfinals before falling to State Title Runner-Up St. Rita. Well, they return their best player, in runningback & Minnesota commit [player_tooltip player_id="20202" first="Mar’Keise" last="Irving"]. Senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="20232" first="Robert" last="Myles"] has the attention of college coaches and could see his recruiting take off with a big year. Defensive lineman Jakai Washington & Thornton transfer linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="20332" first="Elijawah" last="Tolbert"] will lead the way on defense. Hillcrest will be tested off the bat, with a huge week one matchup with Brother Rice. They gave the Crusaders serious issues last fall, before falling 26-20. If the Hawks can pull out a win against Brother Rice, they’re going to have some serious momentum and will be heavily favored to finish the regular season 9-0. This is a very talented football team, with one of the state’s up and coming coaches in Morgan Weaver, if they can get hot, watch out. Kankakee 2019 Record: 9-2 How about the job Head Coach Derek Hart has done! In his first year, he took a team that was previously 4-5 to the second round of the playoffs & a 9-2 finish. Look for them to take it a step further this fall. The Kays have a slew of guys who will play at the college level, their biggest recruit being safety Joeron Hill Jr. Runningback Aveon Pittman & quarterback Tyjuane Stewart both return and will be among the most exciting players to watch in 5A. The Kays play a favorable schedule in 2019 & I expect them to enter their week nine matchup vs. Crete Monee with an unblemished record. If they can beat the Warriors and get into the playoffs 9-0, this is not a team I’d want to see in late November. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400"]<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGFUjL1XYAAXD-S?format=jpg&name=small" alt="Image" width="400" height="400" /> DB Joeron Hill Jr.[/caption] Glenbard South 2019 Record: 6-4 I think from a talent standpoint, Head Coach Ryan Crissey has his best squad. He has multiple high-level recruits returning, led by running back [player_tooltip player_id="20872" first="Trevor" last="Burnett"] & linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="20325" first="Jeremy" last="Gelino"]. Two prospects to keep an eye on are defensive end [player_tooltip player_id="20912" first="Connor" last="Murphy"] and offensive lineman John Golden; both can flat-out play and could see their stock rise fairly quickly. Impending matchups with South Elgin & Bartlett will test the Raiders, but I think at the very least, they’ll split those matchups and win at least one out of the two. I think they’ll enter this year’s playoffs with a much better record than last fall, giving them better playoff seeding for a deeper playoff run come November. Montini I’ll tell you what; I’m excited to watch the Broncos this fall and their sophomore quarterback Tre Jones. Jones hasn’t played a down of varsity football but has garnered multiple FBS offers from his play at the lower levels. He’s a name people will begin to know over the next three seasons. It doesn’t end with him, Montini’s roster features some big prospects like offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="20296" first="Dagen" last="Miller"] and defensive back Di’Andre Harris. Being that they’re in the Catholic League, the Broncos are going to play a tough regular-season schedule. However, I think that’ll play into their favor come playoff time. The Broncos will be battle-tested and won’t need any sort of favorable playoff positioning because they’ve played some of the state’s best. I expect Montini to sneak up on some teams and will make a serious push to play in Champaign Thanksgiving weekend. 2019 Record: 8-3 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="366"]<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5UpVBoXkAAsKTu?format=jpg&name=900x900" alt="Image" width="366" height="374" /> QB Tre Jones[/caption]