March 04, 2025
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Too early? Nah! Here are 5 Times-area football players to watch in 2025

Seniors-to-be will lead way on the gridiron next fall

By J.T. Pedelty
Leelynd Durbin (7) and Aydan Radke (63) of Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland celebrate after a Durbin Week 9 touchdown in Flanagan.

Leelynd Durbin (7) and Aydan Radke (63) of Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland celebrate after a Durbin Week 9 touchdown during the 2024 season. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Local)

While the Class of 2025 will take with it many of the area’s top prep football players when they graduate this spring, there are plenty of proven competitors eligible to return and make their mark on the field come fall.

Here are five of our very early guesses as to Times-area players to watch for when the 2025 season arrives.

Grant Dose

Grant Dose (Charlie Ellerbrock)

Grant Dose, Marquette Academy

Class: 2026

Position: RB/LB

The Crusaders' leading rusher in 2024 with 854 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns could be in for big things his senior campaign under new head coach Ken Carlson, both on offense and defense, where he was the team’s leading tackler and the Chicagoland Prairie Conference’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year.

Leelynd Durbin

Leelynd Durbin

Leelynd Durbin, Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland

Class: 2026

Position: RB/LB/KR

Like Dose, Durbin emerged into a centerpiece of both the FCW offense and defense in his first year in a featured role. Expect more of the same – a second straight 1,000-yard season could be just the start – his senior year tearing up Illinois 8-Man Football Association defenses.

Cooper Smith

Cooper Smith

Cooper Smith, Ottawa

Class: 2026

Position: OL/DL

A first-team postseason honoree on both the Interstate 8 All-Conference Team and The Times All-Area Football Team, Smith will serve as the anchor on a Pirates offensive line that could lead the way to a bounce-back campaign in 2025.

Gunner Varland

Gunner Varland

Gunner Varland, Seneca

Class: 2026

Position: RB/DB/KR

Varland was named the 9-2 Fighting Irish’s Defensive MVP with 79 tackles (66 solo, 10 for loss) and due to graduations seems likely to step into more of a featured role offensively for Seneca after gaining more than 350 all-purpose yards as a junior.

Cole Winterrowd

Cole Winterrowd

Cole Winterrowd, Streator

Class: 2026

Position: OL/LB

The Bulldogs' continued program-wide rededication to the weight room promises an even stronger Winterrowd than the young man who was one of Streator’s top offensive linemen and the team leader in tackles (70), tackles for loss (eight) and solo tackles (36) from his linebacker spot an an 11th-grader.