Starting and building a high school football program from the ground up is no easy task. Urban Prep Academy, an all boys charter school in the Windy City, has seen marked improvement over the three years the sport has been offered.
"My first year here at the school was in its second year," said head coach Anthony Griffin. "We had a sophomore and a freshman team. Our sophomore team made up of freshmen and sophomores finished 5-2. In our first varsity season .we finished with a record of 5-4. That record made us eligible to move up in a division so that we would have a chance to be a state playoff eligible team. This season we finished 5-4 again. We missed being a playoff team in our second year of varsity by just one game."
One of the key players for Griffin is junior Mason Fuller. The 6'3, 290-lb lineman plays both ways and is the school's first real college prospect. While he still is somewhat under the radar, colleges are intrigued by his potential at defensive tackle.
"Mason is a big strong interior defensive lineman. He has very good pass rush capabilities. He also is pretty good versus the run. He needs to continue to improve on his knowledge of the game and being even more aggressive with his hands."
Fuller does not have any scholarship offers just yet, but Griffin says Illinois, South Carolina and Kansas have shown interest and he knows that putting a player into the FBS ranks would be a major landmark for this young program.
"It would be an honor. This is our second year of varsity football and to start off with an FBS/D1 player can only speak to the success and talent that we will hope to produce in the future. The program is growing and our participation has been great having above 100 players in our programs from our freshmen, sophomore and varsity teams."