Tigers, Wildcats boast D-I prospects

There is often a difference between a football team's best player and its best college prospect. For example, a 5-9, 220-pound noseman might be good enough to earn all-conference recognition but he won't attract any scholarship offers from recruiters.

Plainfield Central coach John Jackson has a big-time prospect in 6-3, 220-pound junior linebacker Ryan Carr. He ranks Carr among the top five players he has produced in 25 years.

"He is an impact player but he is a pain in the behind in practice, in a good sense," Jackson said. "He is tough for us to deal with. I run the offense in practice and we have a good offensive line. But we have to make adjustments when we're running against Carr and our defense."

Jackson has another prospect, 6-5, 280-pound offensive tackle Steve Bosilovatz, a senior who has attracted interest from Northern Illinois, Akron, Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan.

But Jackson said his best player is 6-1, 210-pound senior linebacker Keith Marry, a 5.0 student (on a 5.0 scale) who is receiving interest from Northern Illinois, Akron and Ivy League schools.

"He has all the qualities you want in a kid," Jackson said. "But he hasn't had much exposure. He broke his hand in the second game last year and didn't return until Week 7. So a lot of people missed him."

At WW South, coach Mike Muhitch's best player is 6-2, 205-pound linebacker Pat Dansdill. A two-year starter, Dansdill is his team's leading tackler. He has intercepted three passes, returning one for a touchdown. Muhitch compares him to former star Ron Grego of the 1994 team.

"He is our captain on defense, a good leader," the coach said. "He has the ability to lead and be a kid that that everybody likes. Our defense has given up 12 points per game (only six touchdowns in the last five games) against good competition. Four of our first five opponents were ranked."

But Muhitch said his best prospect is Peter Jarrett, a 6-1, 205-pound running back emerged as his team's leading rusher, averaging five yards per carry before being lost to a season-ending knee injury last week. He is a throwback, like former star Dan Dierking, who runs hard and catches the ball out of the backfield. However, Muhitch projects Jarrett as a strong safety in college.

He is a strong, physical player with 4.5 speed who is drawing interest from Western Illinois and Ivy League schools.

"I think Division I schools should look at him as a defensive back," Muhitch said.

Two players who have given WW South a lift are senior quarterback Joe Furco, whose father played at Wheaton North, and senior linebacker James Eshleman, a 6-2, 205-pound transfer from Sterling. Eshleman was Sterling's leading tackler as a junior.

"Dansdill and Eshleman are as good a pair of linebackers as we have had in a long time," Muhitch said. "And Furco has come on strong. He is a good decision-maker. He was our backup last year but he made such good progress that we moved our good junior quarterback, Mack Tracey, to receiver."

How good is WW South? Is everybody bracing for another regular-season finale between unbeatens WW South and Naperville North?

"This is a fun team, a bunch of ordinary Joes playing football," Muhitch said. "But our defense will get much, much better. We have two guys coming back from suspensions (6-3, 245-pound tackle Rahil Shermohamed and 6-2, 220-pound end Jeff Schuman) who will be a force for us."