Meet West Aurora’s Evan Alexandrou and Rodney Jones.
Neither player is touted Division I prospect Denver Warren. And neither claims to be, even though both should have a role this season in filling Warren’s starting spot on the defensive line for the Blackhawks.
West Aurora (9-2) lost 17 starters — 16 to graduation — after making a fourth straight Class 8A playoff appearance last season and moves to what figures to be a bigger challenge in the Southwest Prairie Conference.
Warren, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound senior defensive tackle with multiple scholarship offers from high-profile programs, has transferred to Brother Rice.
“He’s not a part of our program anymore and I don’t talk about kids who aren’t part of our program,” West Aurora coach Nate Eimer said of Warren.
Eimer will, however, talk about players like Alexandrou and Jones, who are likely to join Northern Illinois commit Matt Johnson as starters on the defensive line in the 3-5 alignment of defensive coordinator Tony Melchiori.
“The defensive line should be one of our strengths,” Eimer said.
He was watching many of his linemen compete in last week’s 20th annual Big Butts Competition held at West Aurora that featured more than 400 individuals.
The 6-4, 220-pound Johnson came on strong last fall in only his second season playing football. He was named the team’s defensive line MVP after recording 6 1/2 sacks.
“Matt is a freakish athlete,” Eimer said of Johnson, who’s also a sprinter on the track team.
The 6-0, 235-pound Alexandrou played multiple positions on both sides of the ball.
“Early in the year, I was only in for double tight end situations,” he said. “But as the season went on and we had some injuries, I started at tackle a couple games and guard a couple.”
He also had one sack playing defense, where he’ll likely be stationed this year at nose guard.
“Defense is fun, tackling people,” Alexandrou said.
Jones, who also saw time at linebacker last season, will likely play defensive end opposite Johnson.
Eimer repeated a quote he remembered from Geneva coach Rob Wicinski a year after he lost a strong senior class when he looked at Alexandrou, Jones and other juniors ready to step up into bigger roles.
“(Wicinski) pointed out that the juniors from the previous year had ‘waited their turn and that might make them hungrier and better out of the gate,'” Eimer said.
“I’m hoping that this group for us can do that as well. They were undefeated at the JV level last year. There’s some talent. We have things to figure out, which is fun.”
Johnson and Jones know Warren’s departure hurts.
“He played a big part,” Johnson said. “But we’re looking forward. We’re excited to show people we’re a good team with chemistry for this new conference.”
“We were all real close, like a family,” Jones said. “We’ve got to move on, next guy up, but we’ll miss him.”
Family and football go hand in hand for Jones, whose father Rodney is the defensive coordinator at Neuqua Valley, where he’s coached for 17 years.
“He grew up on Neuqua Valley football, no doubt about it,” the elder Jones, a West Aurora grad, said of his son. “From the time he was about 8, he was virtually at every game with me and attended our camps. He’s been mentored by a lot of our players.”
The younger Jones always wanted to play for his dad but wouldn’t mind facing dad’s team just once.
“It would be fun,” he said. “He’s helped take me to a whole different level than I would have been without him.”
