Jacolby Maxwell right at home at Aurora Christian

Five games into the only varsity football season he will have, Aurora Christian wideout Jacolby Maxwell has caught an impressive 35 passes for 551 yards.

Is he making up for lost time after sitting out last season following his transfer from Plainfield East?

Hardly.

The senior is simply happy to have landed at the place he felt was right for him all along. It’s been a challenging road since his father, James Maxwell Sr. died the summer after Jacolby completed eighth grade.

“He had a stroke at basketball practice,” the youngster said, noting his dad was coaching his AAU team. “They transferred him from a local hospital to Northwestern (Memorial) in Chicago. He came home for like a day, but was sick again and had to be taken back. He died two months after he had the stroke.”

He was 48.

Jacolby had attended Calvary Christian School in Naperville, where his family attended church, from kindergarten through sixth grade. Several classmates would eventually go to Aurora Christian for high school, but Jacolby switched to public schools in Plainfield for junior high because his family “couldn’t afford” the private school any longer.

After his dad’s death, he went to Plainfield East his first two years of high school.

His older brother James Jr., who was a pastor for a church in Ohio, moved back to Illinois to be with Jacolby and their mother Vanessa.

“(His brother) took on a father role and they decided to have (Jacolby) move over to Aurora Christian for spiritual and stability reasons,” Aurora Christian coach David Beebe said.

“I was struggling with everything,” Jacolby said. “Here, I could come and really learn more about God and work on my relationship with God and have more opportunity.”

Because the family didn’t move from its original district, he needed to sit out a year before becoming eligible under IHSA rules.

“He could practice with us but couldn’t play,” Beebe said. “It was the same situation (former player) Legend Smith had been in after losing his father, except Legend sat out his sophomore year and still had two seasons.

“Jacolby’s situation has been tougher because he’s only got one year. That’s why he is so special to us, because he lost so much.”

The 5-9, 155-pound wide receiver practiced with scout teams last year.

He’s had three games with 100-plus yards receiving, topped by his 12 catches for 181 yards last week vs. Bishop McNamara.

He also made his defensive debut in that game at cornerback. Beebe had told Jacolby to be ready because the coach worried that Bishop Mac’s talented receiver, Chris Bell, might give his secondary trouble.

He was right. Hill had three catches for 78 yards and a touchdown early in the game.

“I just told him to stay with him (man-to-man) and he did a fantastic job (limiting Hill to just one more catch for 20 yards),” Beebe said.

“It may happen again. If we need to get in the playoffs or we’re in the playoffs, at that point, it’s all hands on deck.”

Maxwell said he just hopes to be able to make big plays in big games and erase the memory of last year’s semifinal loss to Stillman Valley that came in the final 12 seconds.

“That hurt me and I couldn’t even play,” he said. “I want to win state and have an impact on people the way we play and who we play for.”