High school football: Johnsburg’s Alex Peete bigger, ready for senior year

Johnsburg senior Alex Peete was the top running back in McHenry County last year by yardage, with 2,054 yards. Peete needs about 1,200 more yards this season to crack the top 20 of the state’s all-time career rushing leaders, even after not recording a carry during his freshman year.

Peete’s teammate Joe Moore and coach Dan DeBoeuf said they consider Peete one of the top running backs in all of Illinois.

The one knock on Peete from college recruiters was his stature, as he was measured at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds last year. This year, the senior has worked to make sure his size is no longer an issue.

“His size is a little bit different than it was a year ago,” DeBoeuf said. “He’s put on close to 15 pounds and gained speed since last season. So I don’t think he’s going to be so little out there anymore.”

Peete said he now weighs in at 185 pounds “when I wake up in the morning,” and he said he feels he is better suited to become a college running back at his new weight.

Peete recently attended camp at Winona (Minnesota) State with Moore, who received an offer from the Warriors. Moore and Peete have played together since first grade, and they have been attending camps together all summer. If both end up choosing the same college, Peete said they might be future roommates.

“We’ve talked about that a lot, actually,” Peete said. “That’d be pretty awesome. I think we’d be good roommates and all that good stuff, and we know each other pretty well, had a lot of sleepovers in the past, so it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Peete said he also recently visited Illinois State, and he said the Redbirds are “pretty interested” in him. Peete said Illinois State is looking at him as either a running back or a defensive back. He will “sprinkle in” at cornerback for Johnsburg this season, according to DeBoeuf.

Peete said several other schools, including Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Indiana State also are interested.

“His first three games, we’ll get that film together and we’ll send it out to all those schools he’s visited,” DeBoeuf said. “We’re looking definitely for some big things from Alex.”