HINSDALE, Ill. — More than two years ago, Hinsdale Central High School football coach Mike DiMatteo received his first glimpse of what the next three football seasons were going to be like.
Quarterback John Whitelaw, then just a sophomore, darted away from defensive pressure and sprinted toward one side of the field, then slinged a pass to the other side of the field. And he didn‘t just throw the pass — he completed it.
Whitelaw won the starting job that year over a returning senior. Since then, Red Devil fans have seen those incredible moves by Whitelaw lead Hinsdale Central into the Class 8A Illinois championship game last year and back into title contention this year. In fact, it was a similar pass by Whitelaw in a 24-21 Class 8A semifinal win over Mount Carmel last year that still sticks in DiMatteo’s memory.
“He rolled to his left, spun back to his right, stopped and threw all the way across the field because he saw a kid cutting across the field,” DiMatteo said. “He knows where everybody is at. He did it last week, and the week before, and the week before that. That’s what makes him so dangerous.”
In six games this year, the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder has passed for 1,520 yards and 15 touchdowns, ranking No. 4 in Illinois and No. 56 in the nation in terms of total passing yards. He has also run for 713 yards and 11 touchdowns, ranking No. 23 in Illinois among rushing leaders.
Last week against Oak Park, the only game in which Whitelaw did not pass for multiple touchdowns, he ran for three scores in a 46-45 double-overtime victory.
Perhaps most telling of Whitelaw’s impact is his passer rating of 128, which is unequaled even by Alex Hart of Jordan High School in Sandy, Utah, who is the nation’s leading quarterback in passing stats. In two years, Whitelaw has passed for 3,800 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Oh, and don’t forget that Whitelaw also is Central’s punter (35.63 yards per punt) and also plays defensive back. As the Red Devils dropped into punt formation one recent day in practice, DiMatteo pointed at Whitelaw and smiled back at a reporter.
“You won’t get a better one. I’ve said that for the last three years,” DiMatteo said. “John, he’s a class act. Someone once said that he handles himself with a good deal of grace, and I think that’s the best way to say it. In our community, like many, football is a huge deal and John right now is the biggest star in the community.”
Whitelaw is also a huge fan. He grew up in this western Chicago suburb, and as a kid watched his brother, Andrew, play for the Red Devils. He played youth football here in the fourth grade as a receiver. His dreams included playing on that same football field.
“My brother was on the 2002 team,” Whitelaw said. “I grew up watching him play, idolizing the stars they had back then. It’s really cool to be in their shoes now.”
But Whitelaw’s stardom in Hinsdale has not gained him stardom among college football recruiters. And this is a mysterious piece of a puzzle many have not figured out.
In a year when three other Chicago-area quarterbacks have been scooped up by major football programs, including Wheaton North‘s Taylor Graham by Ohio State and Lake Forest‘s Tommy Rees by Notre Dame, neither of which have winning records this year, Whitelaw has only a scholarship offer from Toledo of the Mid-American Conference. With a grade-point-average of 5.0, Whitelaw has at least three football offers from Ivy League schools, which don't offer traditional scholarships in any sport.
CBS College Sports recruiting analyst Tom Lemming has labeled Whitelaw a four-star recruit.
“He’s a dual threat who can run or pass with the best of them. He makes plays on the run better than most of the quarterbacks I’ve seen,” Lemming said in his MaxPreps evaluation of Whitelaw.
The lack of Big Ten and other major-college conference recruiters buzzing around Whitelaw is particularly bothersome to DiMatteo.
“He’s a great one. And somebody is going to be really regretting the fact that they did not go after John Whitelaw,” DiMatteo said.
Is arm strength the problem? You wouldn’t think so, especially with his cross-field tosses.
“He’s worked extremely hard, and his arm strength is twice what it was last year. He’s deadly accurate,” DiMatteo said.
Winning? In three years with Whitelaw as starter, the Red Devils have won 22 of 31 games and gone 5-2 in the state playoffs.
“All the kid does is win games,” DiMatteo said.
In the midst of the recruiting craziness, or lack thereof, Whitelaw is focused on what he hopes is a second consecutive trip to the state finals. The recruiting stuff? That’s something for later. All those Ivy League school offers do guarantee a rock-solid education.
“Yale, Princeton, Harvard, I’m talking to them a lot. Those are good options right now,” Whitelaw said.
But how will his senior season finish? Central’s year is so much like 2008 that it’s downright scary. The Red Devils were runner-up in the West Suburban Silver to Glenbard West last year and entered the 8A playoffs with a 7-2 record after losses to Glenbard West and Wheaton Warrenville South. This year, the Devils are 4-2 after losses to Glenbard West (28-25) and WW South (34-26). And they‘re a year wiser.
“Some of the situations we faced last year seem like the Super Bowl compared to what we’ve been doing this year,” Whitelaw said. “Less pressure. We’re dealing with adversity much better than we did last year, just knowing what to expect every game.”
Paul Bowker, a sports journalist for 25 years who has worked at newspapers nationwide, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
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