When Libertyville senior Anthony Monken signed a national letter of intent to play football next fall at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, he became the third straight Wildcat to call the signals for the Orange/Black as a senior, and then move on to play college football.
In 2009 and 2010, A.J. Schurr was the main quarterback for Libertyville. After graduation, he spent one year at a prep school and then moved on to Army.
Next year, he should head into preseason camp as the Black Knights’ No. 1 QB on the depth chart.
When Schurr graduated from Libertyville, he was replaced at quarterback by Jack Deichl, who just finished his freshman season as a member of the football team at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a Division-III powerhouse that went 15-0 last fall and won the national championship.
Now that he’s at Wis.-Whitewater, Jack Deichl has had to add a “Jr.” to the back end of his name.
That’s because his dad, the “original” Jack Deichl, so to speak, is an athletic legend at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He was a basketball star and football player there, and is a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
So in Whitewater, when you mention “Jack Deichl” to the locals, they’re thinking 1980s Jack and not 2014 Jack.
As for Monken, he’s the son of longtime Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken who stepped down from coaching after the 2012 season. Vernon Hills and Libertyville high schools are in the same school district.
Louisiana-Monroe used to be called Northeast Louisiana, which gives you an idea of where in the state it’s located — smack between Shreveport to the west and Jackson, Mississippi, to the east.
Both Wisconsin-Whitewater and Louisiana-Monroe are nicknamed Warhawks. The ULM Warhawks play in the Sun Belt Conference and went 6-6 last year.
Monken was one of two QBs signed by ULM on national signing day last week, with the other coming from a high school in Arkansas.
