Nathan Hull takes the lead for surging St. Charles East

ST. CHARLES – The standard before Nathan Hull had already been set.

It was now part of his job to move it forward. That began the moment St. Charles East lost to Lincoln-Way East in the first round of the Class 8A playoffs last year.

His older brother, Justin – a former Saints offensive lineman and current freshman on the University of Minnesota-Duluth football team, pulled him aside.

"[Justin] came up to me and we hugged it out," Nathan Hull said. "He said: 'This is your team now, don’t let it end up like us this year.'"

"And, that really spoke to me," Hull continued. "[It] got me really into being a leader and a captain for this team."

Justin Hull knew the class coming behind him had the camaraderie and chemistry to excel on the field, but "they would need a strong leader."

"I knew that Nathan had the skill set and the character to be that guy," Justin Hull said. "I wanted him to know: With a strong senior leadership like he’s been giving, that their team could do the thing that everyone doubted they could do, like beat Batavia."

Nathan Hull, a senior wide receiver and defensive back, has done just about everything on the field he can to bring his Saints back into the postseason.

The 6-foot-3, 160-pounder has a team-high 398 receiving yards on 19 receptions and five touchdowns. Defensively, he's posted 23 tackles and two interceptions.

The on-field connection with sophomore quarterback Nathan Hayes has been unmistakable all season. Hull averages 21 yards per catch and 57 receiving yards per game.

During last week's 30-29 upset win over Batavia, Hayes connected with Hull for three touchdowns. The third, a 64-yard catch-and-run in the last two minutes, proved the game-winning score.

St. Charles East (6-1), which has won four straight games, now sits in a three-way tie atop the DuKane Conference heading into Friday's game with Wheaton North.

"At first [the connection] wasn't smooth, of course, but we started to feel each other out," Nathan Hull said of the growth during the season. "Now, he knows where I like the ball to be, and I know where and when the ball is going to get to me."

"The connection we have right now is pretty special, and you can see that in the year we are both having."

Saints running back Cole Conn sees it up close.

"They really just have a good relationship," Conn said. "They both respect each other's game which is huge, Nate (Hull) trusts Nate (Hayes) to get the ball on him and make a good pass every time and vice-versa."

"Hayes trusts Hull to catch the balls he puts out there," Conn continued.

To Justin Hull, though,"where [Nathan Hull has] really grown, is in being a team player."

"He switched from safety to corner this year because it was better for the team, and he’s been doing awesome. When they need him to step up and make some plays on offense, he does, and when he doesn’t, it’s because he is helping other guys get open," Justin Hull continued.

Nathan Hull's on-field success is also building his confidence in working through a slight speech impediment.

"Overall through the years, I think football helped build my confidence to speak more and ultimately helped reduce my speech impediment to where it is now," Hull said.

Hull says coming into his freshman season, he wasn’t really comfortable talking at all with the team.

"I would only talk if I had to, really," Hull admitted.

Three years later, "Now, I start stretches every practice and game," Hull said.

"I break out huddles and I speak up when I need to."