First things first. Kyle Kleckner’s head is not inflated by his jaw-dropping statistics.
The Downers Grove North senior quarterback credits the offensive line, acknowledges the hard work of the wide receivers and running backs and points to a superior game plan by the coaching staff. Surely, it is not him.
So when he earnestly says he has yet to play his best game, you almost have to believe, however absurd it may be.
It’s absurd because there’s no possible way he can top his six-touchdown, two-interception performance against Lyons Township or account for more than the 353 yards of offense he totaled against rival Downers Grove South, right?
But when you consider that Kleckner is still in the embryonic stages of learning his position, it’s not that absurd after all.
“The amazing thing is, every snap he takes he gains experience,” Downers Grove North coach Pete Ventrelli says. “He keeps learning with every snap.”
Kleckner has always been a wide receiver, and a good one at that. It wasn’t until this season that Ventrelli decided to move him to quarterback to better utilize his speed and avoid constant double teams.
Needless to say, the move was a good one.
Kleckner has led the Trojans to a 5-1 record behind a statistically staggering month. He has been named the Tribune’s September Athlete of the Month for accounting for 19 touchdowns in five games, totaling 492 yards rushing, 609 yards passing, catching four passes for 59 yards, returning a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and intercepting two passes.
“I was really looking forward to the move,” Kleckner says of switching positions to quarterback. “At QB you’re guaranteed to touch the ball every play. It was a real challenge. Maybe the first game I was a little nervous, but I’ve settled into the role.”
Opposing coaches can attest that he has picked up the position with amazing precocity.
A threat to run or pass, Kleckner opened September by rushing for two 1-yard scores, returning a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and catching two passes for 42 yards against Proviso East.
The following week against Glenbard West he connected for a 49-yard TD strike, passed for 188 yards and scored on a 1-yard run. The Trojans wound up losing the game 24-21, which didn’t sit well with Kleckner.
“The turning point of the season was when we lost to Glenbard West and I had the worst feeling in my stomach,” says Kleckner, who also plays cornerback and rarely, if ever, comes off the field. “I said to myself that I never wanted to have this feeling again.”
He proceeded to turn his game up about four notches and, in turn, began to give opposing teams that queasy feeling in their stomachs. The next week against Oak Park, he scored on runs of 3, 6 and 42 yards, threw a 48-yard TD pass, completed 7-of-14 passes for 173 yards and rushed for 79 more.
Then came the Lyons game in Week 5. Kleckner rushed for four touchdowns, including a 53-yarder, threw for a score and caught a TD pass. He amassed 204 yards rushing in 24 attempts and passed for 30 yards to go along with two interceptions and four tackles.
“We just could not control him,” Lyons coach Jack Derning said. “He makes things happen. You can do everything right on defense and he gets away. We had people right where they needed to be and he just made them miss. He erases mistakes. There’s no way you can coach against that. All you can do is hope the weather holds him down or hope he catches the flu.”
Hard to believe but Ventrelli believes Kleckner one-upped himself the following week against then-No. 9 Downers Grove South, which was undefeated at the time. Kleckner dazzled an overflow crowd by amassing 353 yards of total offense, rushing for touchdowns of 2, 6 and 10 yards and passing for a 27-yard score. He ran for 132 yards in 24 carries and, more impressively, he completed 16-of-21 passes for 218 yards. North won the game 32-29.
“When you score 32 points against Downers Grove South, you’re earning it,” Ventrelli says.
“That game against South meant so much to us,” Kleckner says. “We knew we had a chance to upset them. I could’ve rushed for negative yards and not completed a pass and I would’ve been happy if the outcome was the same. But it’s nice to look back and say that I did that well against a good team.”
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of Kleckner’s game is his 4.5 40-yard dash speed and his elusiveness. Several times against South it appeared the Mustangs had Kleckner for a loss. But each time he reeled off an improvisational scramble to get positive yardage and keep the chains moving.
“He can scramble and that’s the scariest thing, because it’s so tough to account for,” Ventrelli says. “He’s probably the best athlete I’ve coached in 30 years.”
For the season Kleckner has rushed for 14 touchdowns and 524 yards in 90 attempts, completed 36-of-67 passes for five touchdowns, returned two kickoffs for scores in five attempts and caught eight passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns.
Not bad for just learning the position.
“The coaches are always talking about how we can improve,” says Kleckner, also a standout in baseball and basketball. “I don’t think I’ve played my best game yet.”
