The annual West Aurora Team 7on7 was last Friday and featured several teams from Chicagoland along with a good showing from several Rockford area schools. West Aurora and head coach Nate Eimer has for the last several summers made the West Aurora campous one of the places to come and get some good work in between this 7on7 and the Big Butts Linemen Challenge in mid July. These events are always really well run and organizxed and despite the on and off drizzle the fields held up quite well all day.
West Aurora uses its turf stadium as well as its large grass practice field next to the stadium and this seemed to be a perfect sized for the amount of teams in this event.
I will return in Mid July for the West Aurora Bug Butts Linemen Challenge...which is always a great event loaded with talent.
So Who Stood Out?
Hononegah The Indians remain one of the best and most consistent winners in the NIC-10 year in and year out. The Indians here just look different compared to the rest of the Rockford area teams at this event.....Hononegah has a good sized roster, the kids obviously know where the weight room is and this was just a very solid all around team. Over the past few seasons I've made it my mission to get to know the NIC-10 better with covering live games at Harlem and Boylan...but Hononegah remains one program I want to get a better handle on this fall.
Wheaton Warrenville South- I've seen the Tigers a handful of time already this summer and I like what I see. This was a Tigers team that featured quite a bit of underclassmen talent in 2023 and senior QB Luca Carbonara looks locked in this summer and his main target is senior WR Amari Williams (NIU) who is a speedy, twitchy athlete. The WWS defense is also quick and athletic and overall if the line play can do it's part this team will win games this season.
Providence Catholic The Celtics and head coach Tyler Plants also went "young" in 2023 and this is a Celtics team that looks more and more capable of big things this fall. The Providence offense is led by junior QB Leo Slepski and Slepski has continued to grow and develop his game at an impressive level. Also the sheer amount of underclassmen/high level talent on this roster is impressive. Keep an eye on up and coming 2027 ATH Jaylin McMiller along with 2027 TE/DE Curtis Stubbs while 2026 WR/RB Xavier Coleman has the look of a high level D1 talent. The defense is also stacked and senior S Gavin Hagan is highly under recruited so far and the defense is also loaded with depth and experience.
Huntley The Red Raiders looked very smooth and very polished in early July and that's a good thing. Start on offense with senior QB Brayon Bower who is a multi year starter for the Red Raiders. The remaining offensive skills are a bit inexperienced this summer but again looked pretty good here overall. The Red Raiders welcome back 8 starters on defense (5 starters in the back 7) and this has the look of as team that will compete pretty well in the FVC in 2024.
Jacobs The Golden Eagles are another very solid team year in and year out and the 2024 version also welcome back quite a bit of experience for the 2024 season. Jacobs offense will rely on a strong group of running backs who will run behind an experience offensive line. Senior TE/DE PJ Barnes is easily one of the top names to watch in the FVC this fall and Barnes is also a bit under recruited at this stage from what I saw here on Friday. The Jacobs passing game was solid and made some nice plays here and it looks more and more like junior QB Connor Goehring (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) us yet another big, strong and talented signal caller to watch this fall.
Stevenson The Patriots also looked pretty solid here and should be in line for a better season in 2024. I hadn't seen the Patriots pretty much anywhere for the past few seasons. The Brent Becker era got off to a slow start in his first few seasons but the Patriots have seemed to turn things around with back to back state playoff appearances. Junior QB Aidan Crawley will be a multi-year starter in 2024 and is a nice run/pass threat in the Patriots offense and has several quality target in the backfield and in the receiver corps. The defense also has some play makers including senior LB Luke Nelson and I casn see the Patriots making another state playoff appearance this fall.
Rockford East- The majority of Rockford area teams I saw here on Friday didn't exactly blow me away (not named Hononegah).....Rockford East no question looks to have some talented kids and some real athletes this summer. I'm still working on getting more information on the East kids I saw but I would not be surprised to see East make a move up the NIC-10 standings in 2024.
Glenwood- I will focus much more on the Titans later this month when I go down to cover the Glenwood 7on7, but what I was able to watch here was promising, The Titans and head coach David Hay played a ton of underclassmen in 2023 and those kids no question made some noise and look like a team ready to make even more noise in 2024. QB Colten Knoedler throws a good ball and has an abundance of top receivers and backs including senior WR Gavin Simmons, senior TE Jonathon Helm and several underclassmen names to watch. More coming in mid July on the Titans here I promise.
West Aurora The home team is out of nthe Southwest Prairie and now back into the Upstate 8 conference, and this Blackhawks team shows some real promise this summer. Keep an eye on 2026 QB Mason Atkins (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) who shows a very strong arm with good touch and already looks college ready physically. Atkins main target will be senior 3 star ranked WR Terrence Smith who is set to make a college decision between either Iowa or Minnesota. Smith, who is also a top Hoops prospect has impressive size and length, good speed and his ability to win on jump balls is highly impressive.
West Aurora uses its turf stadium as well as its large grass practice field next to the stadium and this seemed to be a perfect sized for the amount of teams in this event.
I will return in Mid July for the West Aurora Bug Butts Linemen Challenge...which is always a great event loaded with talent.
So Who Stood Out?
Hononegah The Indians remain one of the best and most consistent winners in the NIC-10 year in and year out. The Indians here just look different compared to the rest of the Rockford area teams at this event.....Hononegah has a good sized roster, the kids obviously know where the weight room is and this was just a very solid all around team. Over the past few seasons I've made it my mission to get to know the NIC-10 better with covering live games at Harlem and Boylan...but Hononegah remains one program I want to get a better handle on this fall.
Wheaton Warrenville South- I've seen the Tigers a handful of time already this summer and I like what I see. This was a Tigers team that featured quite a bit of underclassmen talent in 2023 and senior QB Luca Carbonara looks locked in this summer and his main target is senior WR Amari Williams (NIU) who is a speedy, twitchy athlete. The WWS defense is also quick and athletic and overall if the line play can do it's part this team will win games this season.
Providence Catholic The Celtics and head coach Tyler Plants also went "young" in 2023 and this is a Celtics team that looks more and more capable of big things this fall. The Providence offense is led by junior QB Leo Slepski and Slepski has continued to grow and develop his game at an impressive level. Also the sheer amount of underclassmen/high level talent on this roster is impressive. Keep an eye on up and coming 2027 ATH Jaylin McMiller along with 2027 TE/DE Curtis Stubbs while 2026 WR/RB Xavier Coleman has the look of a high level D1 talent. The defense is also stacked and senior S Gavin Hagan is highly under recruited so far and the defense is also loaded with depth and experience.
Huntley The Red Raiders looked very smooth and very polished in early July and that's a good thing. Start on offense with senior QB Brayon Bower who is a multi year starter for the Red Raiders. The remaining offensive skills are a bit inexperienced this summer but again looked pretty good here overall. The Red Raiders welcome back 8 starters on defense (5 starters in the back 7) and this has the look of as team that will compete pretty well in the FVC in 2024.
Jacobs The Golden Eagles are another very solid team year in and year out and the 2024 version also welcome back quite a bit of experience for the 2024 season. Jacobs offense will rely on a strong group of running backs who will run behind an experience offensive line. Senior TE/DE PJ Barnes is easily one of the top names to watch in the FVC this fall and Barnes is also a bit under recruited at this stage from what I saw here on Friday. The Jacobs passing game was solid and made some nice plays here and it looks more and more like junior QB Connor Goehring (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) us yet another big, strong and talented signal caller to watch this fall.
Stevenson The Patriots also looked pretty solid here and should be in line for a better season in 2024. I hadn't seen the Patriots pretty much anywhere for the past few seasons. The Brent Becker era got off to a slow start in his first few seasons but the Patriots have seemed to turn things around with back to back state playoff appearances. Junior QB Aidan Crawley will be a multi-year starter in 2024 and is a nice run/pass threat in the Patriots offense and has several quality target in the backfield and in the receiver corps. The defense also has some play makers including senior LB Luke Nelson and I casn see the Patriots making another state playoff appearance this fall.
Rockford East- The majority of Rockford area teams I saw here on Friday didn't exactly blow me away (not named Hononegah).....Rockford East no question looks to have some talented kids and some real athletes this summer. I'm still working on getting more information on the East kids I saw but I would not be surprised to see East make a move up the NIC-10 standings in 2024.
Glenwood- I will focus much more on the Titans later this month when I go down to cover the Glenwood 7on7, but what I was able to watch here was promising, The Titans and head coach David Hay played a ton of underclassmen in 2023 and those kids no question made some noise and look like a team ready to make even more noise in 2024. QB Colten Knoedler throws a good ball and has an abundance of top receivers and backs including senior WR Gavin Simmons, senior TE Jonathon Helm and several underclassmen names to watch. More coming in mid July on the Titans here I promise.
West Aurora The home team is out of nthe Southwest Prairie and now back into the Upstate 8 conference, and this Blackhawks team shows some real promise this summer. Keep an eye on 2026 QB Mason Atkins (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) who shows a very strong arm with good touch and already looks college ready physically. Atkins main target will be senior 3 star ranked WR Terrence Smith who is set to make a college decision between either Iowa or Minnesota. Smith, who is also a top Hoops prospect has impressive size and length, good speed and his ability to win on jump balls is highly impressive.
