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The Mokena Messenger 072017
The Mokena Messenger 072017
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46 | July 20, 2017 | The Mokena Messenger sports<br />
mokenamessenger.com<br />
On the lookout for a guy who’s hard to miss<br />
Former East<br />
offensive lineman<br />
named to watch list<br />
Jon DePaolis<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
In the early 2010s, fans of<br />
the Lincoln-Way East football<br />
team could hardly miss<br />
Nick Allegretti on the field.<br />
The standout offensive lineman<br />
was a key player on<br />
some offensive juggernauts.<br />
But now, the nation may<br />
be catching up to what those<br />
around the Lincoln-Way<br />
East football squad already<br />
knew.<br />
Allegretti, a 2014 graduate<br />
of Lincoln-Way East and<br />
current offensive lineman on<br />
the University of Illinois at<br />
Urbana-Champaign football<br />
team, has been named to the<br />
Rimington Trophy watch<br />
list. The award recognizes<br />
the nation’s top center.<br />
“I don’t even have a lot of<br />
words for it,” Allegretti said<br />
of being named to the watch<br />
list. “It’s an awesome honor<br />
to even be on that list.”<br />
Though it is an award he’s<br />
kept track of since he was a<br />
teenager, Allegretti was unaware<br />
he was on the watch<br />
list until a former teammate<br />
reached out to him.<br />
“I don’t really have social<br />
media, so I didn’t even know<br />
about it,” Allegretti said. “I<br />
actually got a text from Joe<br />
Spencer, our old center, congratulating<br />
me. I had no clue<br />
what he was talking about.”<br />
From experience to<br />
leadership<br />
Allegretti is no stranger<br />
to success. He played a crucial<br />
role on the 2012 East<br />
football team that got to the<br />
Class 7A state title game. In<br />
2013, he was selected for the<br />
U.S. Army All-American<br />
Bowl after a season in which<br />
he had 56 pancake blocks in<br />
2013.<br />
After being redshirted his<br />
freshman year, he played in<br />
11 games in 2015. He mostly<br />
played at center and guard,<br />
but also on special teams.<br />
But Allegretti also showed<br />
his willingness to do whatever<br />
the team needed when<br />
an injury led to him playing<br />
defensive tackle.<br />
“I had not played defense<br />
since eighth grade,”<br />
Allegretti said. “It was a<br />
Tuesday or Wednesday of<br />
the week [leading up to<br />
the] Western Illinois game.<br />
One of my teammates went<br />
down, and we looked at our<br />
D-line, and we didn’t have<br />
many people left. We had<br />
no depth. Coach came up to<br />
me after practice and said,<br />
‘What do you think about<br />
playing D-line?’ I said, ‘All<br />
right, let’s go!’”<br />
Allegretti moved to the<br />
other side of the ball, and,<br />
on just two days of practice,<br />
he played as a rotational guy<br />
on the defensive line in the<br />
second half of the season.<br />
The following week, against<br />
North Carolina, he got<br />
thrown in on the defensive<br />
line during the first quarter.<br />
“It was a quick turnaround,”<br />
he said, laughing.<br />
“I hadn’t played it in about<br />
six years, and never really<br />
at a competitive level. But it<br />
was fun, and I got to experience<br />
something new.”<br />
For Allegretti, the willingness<br />
to switch sides of the<br />
ball was innate.<br />
“It’s just the way I was<br />
raised,” he said. “My mom<br />
and pops taught me to do<br />
whatever I could do to get<br />
onto the field and do whatever<br />
I could for the team.”<br />
Last year, however, Allegretti<br />
was able to get back<br />
to what he does best — protecting<br />
the quarterback. In<br />
2016, his sophomore season,<br />
Nick Allegretti, a redshirt junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, started<br />
all 12 games last season for the Illini. His success led to him being included on the watch<br />
list for the Rimington Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s top collegiate center.<br />
University of Illinois Athletics<br />
Allegretti started in all 12<br />
games — mostly at strong<br />
side guard.<br />
“Last year taught me that<br />
the more I know about the<br />
offense, the better I’d be,”<br />
Allegretti said. “I felt like<br />
last year was a huge opportunity<br />
for me. It was a blast.”<br />
He also got a taste of playing<br />
center again, starting at<br />
the spot in a game against<br />
Murray State when starter<br />
Joe Spencer was out with an<br />
injury.<br />
Allegretti credits Spencer<br />
and others for learning not<br />
only the physical aspects of<br />
college football but also the<br />
mental, more leadership-involved<br />
traits.<br />
“The first three years, I got<br />
to play under guys like Mike<br />
Heitz and Alex Hill, and<br />
Teddy Karras for two years<br />
and Joe Spencer,” he said. “I<br />
got to learn from all of those<br />
dudes. I think I’ve learned<br />
a lot about leadership from<br />
them.”<br />
And those leadership lessons<br />
were invaluable, especially<br />
considering the turnover<br />
the Illini have had on<br />
the coaching staff during Allegretti’s<br />
time at the school.<br />
“I got here, and the first<br />
three years we had three<br />
[different] head coaches,” he<br />
said. “It was tough, and not<br />
what I expected obviously.<br />
But after the last coaching<br />
change and Coach [Lovie]<br />
Smith came in, I feel like<br />
the whole team [thought] the<br />
athletic department found us<br />
a coach we can win with.”<br />
Allegretti said the biggest<br />
difference since Smith took<br />
over the program is the way<br />
the program is run.<br />
“It’s run like an NFL program,”<br />
he said. “We come<br />
in, go to film, get treatment<br />
and go to practice. It’s a very<br />
efficient program, and we<br />
don’t waste any time. If we<br />
are at the stadium, we are<br />
doing something productive.”<br />
Going into this season, Allegretti<br />
is slated for a bigger<br />
role on the offensive line —<br />
something he’s ready for.<br />
“The Big Ten is a tough<br />
conference, a physical conference,”<br />
he said. “No matter<br />
what team you are or where<br />
your program is at, if you<br />
want to win a single game in<br />
the Big Ten, it is going to be<br />
hard.<br />
“But I think we have the<br />
ability to go out there and<br />
win a lot of games this year.<br />
We have a lot of young kids,<br />
and a lot of kids who are<br />
stepping up.”<br />
He pointed to running<br />
back Kendrick Foster and<br />
quarterback Chayce Crouch,<br />
who he said has stepped up<br />
to be a leader on the team.<br />
“He’s a playmaker,” Allegretti<br />
said of the young quarterback.<br />
He said he also realizes<br />
with his age and experience,<br />
he needs to be a good example<br />
for his younger teammates.<br />
But he also has high<br />
expectations for the year.<br />
“The No. 1 most important<br />
thing we have to do<br />
is play hard and physical,<br />
no matter what,” he said.<br />
“If you go out there and<br />
have a brain freeze, come<br />
off the ball and still play<br />
hard. When we go back and<br />
watch film on Sunday, you<br />
can’t say, ‘I took that play<br />
off.’ We have the players we<br />
need and we have the talent.<br />
But if we take plays off,<br />
we’re not going to win the<br />
games we need to. We need<br />
every single player, 11 at a<br />
time, and everyone on the<br />
sidelines to be engaged and<br />
give 100 percent effort.”<br />
A bright future<br />
Allegretti recognizes his<br />
playing career at Illinois is<br />
winding down, but his goal<br />
still remains to play the<br />
game as long as he possibly<br />
can.<br />
“Whether it is another<br />
two, five or 10 years …<br />
whatever it is, I want to play<br />
as long as I can,” Allegretti<br />
said. “I absolutely love the<br />
sport. There’s nothing like<br />
competing at this level.”<br />
But that doesn’t mean it is<br />
his only option. He said he<br />
will graduate in December<br />
with an accounting degree,<br />
and he has his sights set on<br />
perhaps pursuing a master’s<br />
degree.<br />
“Whenever football ends,<br />
I’m really excited to get into<br />
the business world,” he said.