Wildcats Get Their Man

Who said it’s tough to recruit at Northwestern? Don’t tell that to Randy Walker and his staff. All they did this year was land a verbal commitment from Ohio’s Mr. Football (Tyrell Sutton) and on Saturday night they reeled in another big fish, Illinois Player of the Year Chris Jeske

Jeske is a four-year varsity starter for one of the premier football programs in the United States, Joliet (Ill.) Catholic Academy. The Hilltoppers have won 12 state championships.

During his four-year high school career, Jeske has 3-state championships, 2-all-state awards and he was named Illinois Player of the Year in 2004.

He had 148 tackles and 10 sacks in 2004 including a touchdown in the state championship game.

It seemed like just yesterday that rumblings across the “Hilltopper Nation” turned into a roar when a freshman named Chris Jeske was moved up to the varsity to play middle linebacker.

This just isn’t done at Joliet Catholic. This is after all, a catholic school with a football problem.

At Joliet Catholic, the middle linebacker is more important than the quarterback. There have been a ton of good Joliet Catholic middle linebackers including former Northwestern linebacker Steve Ostrowski.

The only other middle linebacker to start all four years at “The Hill” was John Piazza. Piazza was considered the best linebacker ever to walk the halls at Joliet Catholic. He went on to Yale and is currently the Mayor of Lemont (Illinois).

Without hesitation, it’s easy to say the Jeske is the best of the best. He’s a throw-back linebacker that plays sideline to sideline. He takes very good angles to the football and always puts himself in position to make the tackle.

Jeske is extremely strong, he’s a weight-room monster and plays the game with the “old school” passion of Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary. Jeske has just the right amount of "Nasty" to play linebacker.

Congratulations to Chris Jeske on all his accomplishments at Joliet Catholic. As an alum, it’s going to be strange not seeing #43 out there on Friday night making big play after big play.

Jeske will take with him to Northwestern, the values that he’s learned on and off the field at Joliet Catholic. I’m sure he’ll make his idol and linebackers coach at Northwestern, Pat Fitzgerald, very happy for the next four years.