Yes, it's nice every August when football season comes back around, even though in this corner of the prep football world, there's no "home team" for whom to root.
That said, I do have two observations as we head into Week 1 action.
1) It's a bit unfortunate that with roughly 500 schools playing football in Illinois, maybe 40 of them (8 classes, 5 teams per class) have any even semi-realistic chance of hoisting the big trophy in Normal on Thanksgiving weekend.
For football fans with no team allegiance, I think that sucks a lot of the anticipation out of the season, and it seems it has also sucked a lot of life out of this website. It's kind of like what it will be like watching the Ohio State /Oregon and Alabama /Georgia college football games this fall. Great teams. Great games to watch. But win or lose, all those teams will make the expanded postseason so the angst that comes with your favorite team playing a danger game that is a win-or-go-home just isn't there..
In football, the well-worn expression is "The rich get richer." In Illinois prep football, it's more like "The rich stay rich."
2) The constant debate about recruiting top-end football players by private high schools ... well, it's obviously still happening.
But this season, arguably the highest-ranked prep QB in this state in the Class of 2026 transferred from Bolingbrook to state super-power Lincoln-Way East.
On a website, I heard the Oregon verbal commit answer when asked why he transferred to L-W East. He certainly could have said it's because he feels L-W East is a stronger academic school and offers him more educational opportunities than Bolingbrook.
Again, he could have said that, true or not.
What I heard him say was, "I want to win."
Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But that transfer of a major, major talent, does support the position that powerhouse public schools are now destination schools for talented football players. And it's likely going to get even more common of a happening. With top college football players literally being paid professionals starting with the prep senior class of 2025, there's huge money for players offered cash by big-name schools.
High school seniors are no longer playing for a college scholarship, with a value that's similar whether it be at Michigan or at Northern Illinois.
Now, the seniors are playing for a lot of money, and the belief surely among many players and many parents is that it's more likely to be able to cash in at the collegiate level by excelling at a major high school program that is playing deep into November rather than for a bottom feeder that considers three wins a good season.
As a result, it's possible that the high school "transfer portal" in Illinois could wind up ridiculously busy from now on, as has happened with the college football portal.
