JCA Football Goes State of the Art

Ever since Dan Sharp returned to Joliet Catholic Academy as head football coach, the Hilltoppers have produced a steady stream of NCAA Division I recruits, ranging from J.R. Zwierzynski and Mike Kolodziej to Chris Jeske to brothers Chris and Nick Clancy to the current crop of Malin Jones and Ty Isaac of .

Just to name a few.

Part of the credit goes to God-given ability and talent. Part of the credit goes to the impact of the school’s athletic legacy — “God, Country, Joliet Catholic” — with an IHSA-best 13 state championships in football bringing with it a heightened exposure. And part of the credit goes to streamlining the process.

“I laugh when coaches say, ‘I got this kid a scholarship,’” said Sharp, a 1974 graduate of JCA. “Because coaches really don’t. Players get themselves the scholarships. All we can do as coaches is to help them get the opportunities, get them the exposure, show them what is out there and then try to guide them.”

During the last offseason, in an effort to bolster that JCA football guidance, Sharp named Mark Mettille, a defensive assistant coach, as coordinator of college recruiting. At the time, Mettille’s son Michael was a linebacker who would eventually commit and is now a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania.

The recent college bowl schedule put JCA on display. Tight end Coby Fleener played for Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl, while long snapper Zak Pedersen and running back Josh Ferguson played for Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. But Zach Dolph and Alex Kolodziej also won the NAIA title with Saint Xavier.

This is a prime period for college football recruiting. Almost 200 schools will visit JCA in December and January alone, looking for the next generation of Zwierzynski, Jeske, Clancy, Kolodziej and Jones.

“With Mark agreeing to help with the recruiting process, what that has helped us to do is expand our network to more conferences and more schools, particularly the NCAA Division II, Division III and NAIA levels,” Sharp said. “If they are not scholarship schools, they offer packages where money is available.

“Mark has put together an information guide for the kids and we meet with them and go over everything, especially the things schools are looking for besides talent. It’s grades, character, how you handle a visit, how you handle talking to coaches, plus the paperwork involved. It’s quite a process."

As Mettille noted, having JCA on the football resume can be a strong selling point. Running backs like Ferguson, Jones and Isaac had, or have, multiple Division I suitors. The new thrust for JCA, though, is on expanding the amount of options offered for Hilltopper players at the next level, from top to bottom.

“Everybody knows JCA,” Mettille said. “It’s 13 state titles, Mike Alstott, Rudy … everybody knows about the football program. It’s wide-reaching, so we don’t have to worry about that and we do promote that.

“We thought things were going great, but we changed some things and fine-tuned our database to broaden our reach. We have a great product. Coaches who recruit JCA football players know they are getting tough kids and good students from great families, and that is what every single college wants.”

In the old days, colleges also wanted tape. The onset of recruiting services, the Internet and popular channels like YouTube provided a transformation that has continued with JCA’s usage of hudl.com.

“Things are different from three years ago, even from last year,” Mettille said. “It’s actually harder for college coaches because they have so much access to links and they could sit in a room and look at video all day long. The nice thing about a JCA link is they know the quality of the kid, the quality of the player.”

Those links lead to a constant block of visits at the Student Activity Center, which are spearheaded by Sharp, Mettille and administrative assistant Nancy Lupton. Colleges always come to JCA for football, which has gone 163-31 with six state titles and two runnersup in the past 15 years under Sharp.

“The technology with HUDL has really helped with the recruiting process,” Sharp said. “Because of our success at Joliet Catholic and who we are, we are able to expose kids to a lot of different opportunities, both locally and nationally. Naturally, big-time recruits like Malin and Ty will be recruited nationally.

“What we’re trying to do is get even more of the other schools in here. We’ve had NAIA schools from Florida, Division II schools from Minnesota, a Division I from North Dakota, all of the Midwest and Illinois schools on every level. And with HUDL, we don’t have to go through a middle man for film or video.”

An increasingly more difficult aspect of the football recruiting process is the trend of colleges to go young. Sophomore starters like tackle J.B. Butler and tight end Zach Rezin already are on the radar.

“You can look at Coby Fleener as being a prime example,” Sharp said. “He was a basketball player who didn’t explode until his senior year. It has gotten younger and younger, and it isn’t fair because some kids’ ability and maturity won’t allow them to get onto the field until their senior year. But this is it.

“We have a lot of colleges coming in and looking at seniors, but they want to know, ‘Who do you have in the Class of 2013? Who do you have in the Class of 2014?’ It’s a huge trend that is not going to stop.”

Another trend will be seen before the Feb. 1 signing period, with between 150-175 colleges visiting JCA.  Division I schools return during spring recruiting. Smaller schools mainly work the winter months.

“People will ask, ‘How do you get your kids scholarships, how do you get them recruited?’” said Sharp, whose son Dan played defensive end at St. Ambrose, an NAIA school. “It basically comes down to two things: their talent, what they see on the field or in a one-day camp, and their academics/character.

“We know that our coaches are great character references for our kids, and it helps that anybody who comes through the Chicagoland area for a recruiting visit always makes sure to stop at Joliet Catholic.”

And that will never change.