2022 Breakdown: Glenbard West
School: Glenbard West
Nickname: Hilltoppers
Colors: Forest Green/White
Head coach: Chad Hetlet
Glenbard West is currently #4 ranked team in the 2022 Week 4 EDGYTIM Chicagoland Top 30 poll
The Offense: The Glenbard West offense is a multi-formation attack that will look to first establish the Hilltoppers running game, then this offense is more than capable of throwing the football and has big play potential in both the ground game and in the air. The Hilltoppers in this 35-14 win mixed in several different looks and formations including some Power I, some double wing along with another half dozen looks which will make scouting the Hilltoppers a serious task this fall.
The Glenbard West offense is led by senior QB Korey Tai (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) who returns as a second year varsity starter for the Hilltoppers this fall. Tai is an intriguing athlete who has the athletic skills and ability to keep opposing teams off balanced with both his arm talent and with his running ability. Tai has some impressive weapons around him in this Hilltoppers offense, and his overall tools and ability is just a very good fit in this offense again in 2022. Tai's overall improvement in his QB skills and fundamentals has been noticeable this off season, and he's greatly improved his overall touch and accuracy.
The remaining backs and receivers for Glenbard West continues to be a strength of this program on the offensive side of the football. While Glenbard West might not have the college of really good running backs they had a season ago, this is still a very good group of backs and receivers. Keep an eye this season on junior WR/RB Julius Ellens (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) along with junior RB Ben Cesario (6-foot-0, 185 pounds) and junior FB/HB Ben Troyer (6-foot-0, 205 pounds). Also keep an eye on senior TE/WR Flip Maciorowski (6-foot-4, 200 pounds), senior WR DeWayne Smith (6-foot-2, 175 pounds) along with senior WR Quinton Gatlin (6-foot-1, 160 pounds).
The Glenbard West offensive line? The line play for the Hilltoppers a definite strength this fall and includes several experienced linemen back again in 2022. Keep an eye on senior OL Chris Terek (6-foot-6, 305 pounds) along with senior Jack Baer (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) , senior Luke Gadomski (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) senior Brady Caven (6-foot-0, 250 pounds) and junior Erik Lonvick (6-foot-2, 260 pounds).
The Defense: The Glenbard West defense has been the calling card for the Hilltoppers program from the moment head coach Chad Hetlet took over the reins of the program years ago. Nicknamed "The Dark Side" the Glenbard West defense plays fast and very physical football and is adept at forcing opposing teams into mistakes and turnovers more often than not over the years.
The Hilltoppers defensive line features junior Jack Anderson (6-foot-3, 240 pounds), senior Jack Rainey (5-foot-10, 240 pounds plus junior Danny Coffey (6-foot-0, 275 pounds). The linebackers feature senior Jack Oberhofer (6-foot-1, 225 pounds), junior Ben Starman (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) plus senior Flip Maciorowski (6-foot-4, 200 pounds), junior Rhett Pierce (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) and junior Eli Limouris (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) . The Glenbard West secondary features senior Michael Short (6-foot-0, 185 pounds), junior Will Meyer (5-foot-7, 155 pounds) and junior Joey Campanella (5-foot-9, 155 pounds).
The Good: Team Speed. Talent Level. Youth.
The Not So Good: Penalties. Youth.
The Future? Make sure to check the soon to be released Recruiting Report feature from which will include some of the top Glenbard West underclassmen names to watch.
EDGY's Take on the Glenbard West Hilltoppers
The motto this fall for the Hilltoppers and head coach Chad Hetlet is Return to Glory....and while most programs would easily take the Hilltoppers success over the past handful of seasons....this program always aims much, much higher and expects state titles year in and year out.
The Glenbard West offense was missing standout senior WR/DB Joey Pope, who no question is an impact player for the Hilltoppers on both sides of the football. Yet Glenbard West still has talent on board as junior RB Julius Ellens stepped up and led a very strong Hilltoppers ground game led by a very good Hilltoppers offensive line. The play action passing game is also in good hands behind QB Korey Tai and again this program just never seems to be short on offensive skills talent.
The Glenbard West defense? The 2022 Hilltoppers defense is really young.....but this unit is also talented and has a ton of speed and quickness at all positions this season. Yes, the defense made some mistakes and will need to continue to get better, grow and develop as the season moves along. While the youth of this defense is a bit of a concern early on this season, the longer this season moves a long the better and better this defense will become in my opinion. Overall this defense plays like the Return To Glory units, except that this crew is a much younger version of those great defense which has speed for days and just hit everything in front of them.
Issues? Sure they are still there at times, the main culprit being that the Hilltoppers just seem to commit too many penalties in key situations. Sure, this team like other Hilltopper teams seem to always find a way to get out of trouble when it counts. However, the deeper the state playoff run the more of an issue those same penalties can become a major issue that Glenbard West will need to get corrected sooner rather than later.
Overall?
Glenbard West is no question a very strong team this season, if not the strongest team in a very strong West Suburban Silver. They will be a very tough team in the post-season, yet the way the Silver is shaping up I'm not sure if they can get out of conference play without a loss this fall.