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38 | August 3, 2017 | The Mokena Messenger sports
mokenamessenger.com
Muto a fit for Illinois State’s smash-mouth offense
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
For as long as Nico Muto
has been playing football,
he’s always wanted to be a
running back.
It didn’t matter that Muto
was the self-described
“little fat kid” who looked
nothing like the prototypically
sleek, angular players
often among the fastest and
most agile on the field. Going
back to the days when
he played flag football on
the school playground at recess,
he has loved toting the
rock.
“When I was a little kid,
when I was in fourth and
fifth grade, I was that little
fat kid they would throw the
ball to, and I would just run
kids over,” he said. “I’ve
always wanted to be a running
back. I was 5-feet tall
and so chubby, but I was
fast. People couldn’t catch
me, and if they did I would
drag them.”
Muto is no longer the little
fat kid, though at 5-foot-9,
250 pounds, he still doesn’t
look like a typical running
back. However, that didn’t
keep him from excelling
at the position during his
final two years at Lincoln-
Way Central, where he did
his fair share of outrunning,
bulldozing and dragging opponents,
while helping the
Knights to their best season
in more than a decade last
fall.
Muto’s success, and the
hard work that contributed
to that success, have earned
him the opportunity to continue
living his football
dream at Illinois State University,
where he will begin
his freshman season this
fall. His first college training
camp begins July 30.
“I’ve been waiting all
summer, counting down the
days,” he said. “It really is a
Lincoln-Way Central graduate Nico Muto will continue his football career at Illinois State
University in the fall. 22nd Century Media File Photos
Nico Muto served as one of the running backs in coach Jeremy Cordell’s system, despite
being the heaviest player on the team.
blessing; a lot of guys don’t
get to play college football.
“I’ve always dreamed of
playing Division I, and I
never thought I’d be good
enough. I worked so hard,
and I finally got to that level
of being one of the top athletes
in high school, and
now it truly is a dream come
true. This is just the first
step of something great, I
feel like.”
Muto was among several
running backs that were featured
prominently on Central’s
run-heavy offense last
season, but he is expected to
fill more of a fullback role
for the Redbirds. He will be
asked to do a lot of blocking
and some receiving out
of the backfield – tasks he
did not do much of in high
school – but all he cares
about is contributing any
way he can to ISU having
success.
The day after last season
ended with a second-round
playoff loss, he has since
been working to improve
every facet of his game –
from his strength, speed and
quickness to catching the
ball.
“I know there’s competition
out there, this is D-I,”
he said. “I’ve always tried
to be the strongest person
on the field, the most powerful
and still with some
speed. Whatever they want
me to do I’ll be good at. I
have to compete for my
spot, but obviously the goal
is to start, to play, and I feel
like I do fit and can compete
with them. I feel like I’m
ready.”
Muto entered his senior
season at Central with the
goal of rushing for 1,000
yards and scoring 20 touchdowns,
and six quarters into
the 2016 campaign, it appeared
those marks were
well within reach. But a
broken hand against Sandburg
in the second game of
the season – during which
he rushed for 120 yards
before halftime – derailed
any hopes of him attaining
those goals. He missed the
following four games, and
the bad break also prompted
some schools that had been
recruiting him to all but
abandon their efforts, he
said.
“There were quite a few
schools looking at me after
my junior season, and I just
think that set me back, me
breaking my hand,” Muto
said. “I knew I would have
had a great season if I didn’t
break my hand; but, in my
opinion, it made me work
harder.”
One school that kept
Muto in its sights was Illinois
State, the alma mater
of Knights coach Jeremy
Cordell and the program
for which Muto has wanted
to play since he attended
football camps there prior
to his sophomore season at
Central.
“They have a great program
there, I love how
things are done there, and
I’m so happy they stuck
with me,” he said. “Ever
since my sophomore year
I’ve wanted to go there, and
it’s amazing that I actually
am. A lot of people want to
go to a big school – Florida,
Alabama, stuff like that –
but me, I’ve always wanted
to go to Illinois State, no
matter how good I was.”
Muto is excited to be part
of a Redbirds team he believes
is on the rise.
“I just really feel like
good things are going to
happen with that school,
they’re just starting something
really great,” he said.
If he’s asked to run the
ball, he’ll be thrilled to
display his power running
style he compared to the
Oakland Raiders’ Marshawn
Lynch and the Jacksonville
Jaguars’ Leonard
Fournette.
“I’m not at their speed yet
– I mean, I’m trying – but
they run hard, and I feel like
I definitely run as hard as
them.”
Muto credits Cordell
with helping him grow as
a player and person during
the coach’s two years
at the helm at Central. The
two have a tight bond, and
shared a celebratory moment
last year after Muto
committed to ISU.
“He called me down to
his office and he gave me a
big hug, and he’s like, ‘I’m
so proud of you.’ We were
both so happy,” Muto said.
Please see muto, 35