Super 25 countdown: Carmel

Updated: May 9, 2012 9:42AM

If you think Carmel’s ground game was good last season, wait till you see this year’s Corsairs.

‘‘We’re all at least 10 pounds heavier, at least a tenth of a second faster in our 40 [yard dash time],” senior running back Michael Panico said. ‘‘We have experience now. We are totally taking it to the next level.’’

Carmel, ranked No. 7 in the Sun-Times’ preseason Super 25, has three senior backs, any one of whom would be the lead runner for most teams. Jordan Kos, a 5-11, 195-pounder being recruited by Boston College, Iowa and Wisconsin, ran for almost 1,400 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. Panico (5-8, 171), who has a scholarship
offer from Akron, added 986 yards and 11 TDs, while Matt Maher (5-11, 201) has proved to be a capable runner and blocker.

And senior Brian Brennan (5-7, 160), who takes over at quarterback, is liable to tuck the football under his arm and take off, too.

‘‘He can make plays passing the ball, running the ball,” Panico said of Brennan. ‘‘He makes some of the best reads I’ve seen on the option.’’

If the Corsairs do decide to throw, a likely target is speedy senior Jack Schoen, who didn’t come out last year.

‘‘He’s almost as fast as Panico,” coach Andy Bitto said. ‘‘He can stretch the field.”

Opening holes for the backs and protecting Brennan will be a line anchored by center Shane Toub (6-3, 240), whose dad, Dave, is the Bears’ special-teams coach, and guard Mike Dyer (6-1, 270).

All should go well on offense as long as the Corsairs can avoid injury.

‘‘Last year, two of the three [backs] got hurt,’’ Bitto said.

Carmel has some difference makers on defense, as well. Linebacker Tyler Lees (5-10, 200) had around 130 tackles last season and has 4.6 speed, while fellow ’backer Kevin Cox (6-1, 186) can run a 4.5. Linebackers Mitch Nelson and Brett Blum and defensive backs Sean Brennan and John Salvi also are reliable defenders.

And the Corsairs have one of the state’s premier kickers in Steven O’Block, who had 31 touchbacks and four field goals of 40 yards or more last season.

Exactly what the sum of the parts is will be determined early, as the Corsairs open on the road at Joliet Catholic in a game that could decide the East Suburban Catholic Conference. History may not be on Carmel’s side: the two-time defending ESCC champ Corsairs never have won at Joliet Catholic, never have beaten the Hilltoppers two years in a row (they won last year in Mundelein) and never have won the conference three straight seasons.

Then again, they probably haven’t had a backfield this talented and experienced, either.

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