Villa Park (Ill.) Willowbrook sophomore quarterback prospect AJ Palicki (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) saw his sophomore season come to an end last Friday night, losing to Wheaton North 10-3 in the Class 7A quarterfinal round. However, Palicki had a strong season showing and will no question start drawing increased recruiting looks to know this latest name to watch in the Class of 2024 here.

"It was a disappointing loss (Friday night to Wheaton North)," Palicki said. "We should have won that game but we came up a little short. We had a great senior class and I feel the worst for those guys. We will have a lot of good younger players coming back for next season and we will be motivated this off season. "

Palicki, who threw for 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021 was asked to grade his overall performance from this past season.

"I would give myself a C grade for the season. As a team we started the season ay 0-2 and did pretty well after that start. The final loss to Wheaton North was disappointing. I feel that I was able to get better at reading defenses this season. I felt good about being able to make check downs and my coaches really worked hard with me this past season to help me improve and get better."

So what part of his overall game does Palicki plan to work on this off season?

"I throw with Jeff Christensen at Throw It Deep and I already went back to work with him today (Sunday) already. I want to improve on my overall touch passes along with improving my overall speed. I'm going to run track this winter along with keep working on my game. I also want to be able to make better overall decisions and take the check downs more instead of trying to force throws."

Palicki was also able to make a recent unofficial visit to the University of Illinois.

"I was able to make a game day visit to Illinois when they played Wisconsin and it was a good experience. It was actually the first ever college game I've seen in person so it was a lot of fun. I was able to see and meet a few different kids I knew about or kids I've been reading about. I was really impressed with the size of the linemen and those guys are just huge upfront. I really enjoyed my visit to Illinois and I'm hoping to get a chance to go back and visit them again."

So does Palicki have a dream school?

"UNC (North Carolina) would be my dream school. They play in a great conference and they seem to produce NFL quarterbacks almost every year."