February 10, 2025
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2021 DeKalb County Football Previews: DeKalb Barbs

By Eddie Carifio

Senior Trenton McCollum takes a handoff during the DeKalb High School football team's first practice of the year Wednesday afternoon inside the DeKalb Park District Sports and Recreation Center. (Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.com/Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.co)

2019 record: 6-4, 3-2 Dupage Valley Conference

Coach: Keith Snyder (6-4, second season)

Keep an eye on: Toriano Tate went down in Week 3 against Edwardsville and missed the rest of the season. The junior running back is already drawing national recruiting attention from NIU and other MAC schools, Illinois state, North Dakota and North Dakota State. He’ll split time at running back and receiver.

Also: Trenton Kyler, sr., QB; Trenton McCullom, sr., RB; Devonte Harris, sr., FB; Tucker Ikens, sr., FB; Cole Girardot, OL, sr.; Gavin Engh, jr., C; Kaeden Gunn, sr., WR; Ethan Cano, sr., WR; Brayten Wilkerson, sr., DE; Talon Tate, fresh., FS

Schedule: 2 p.m. March 20 vs. Metea Valley; 2 p.m. March 27 at Naperville North; 2 p.m. April 3 at Waubonsie Valley; 2 p.m. April 10 vs. Naperville Central; 7 p.m. April 16 vs. Neuqua Valley; 7 p.m. April 23 at DVC tournament, opponent TBD

The lowdown: Snyder has been hyping the capabilities of this offense for a long time, and is going all-in on scoring points. Ikens will move to fullback from linebacker, adding a powerful complement to speedsters Toriano Tate and McCollum. Kyler can also make plays with his arms and legs.

On the defensive side, Snyder said Talon Tate is doing well at free safety, a high-profile position in their defensive scheme that has produced NCAA Division I talent with the last two at the position, Donovan Lacey (Western Illinois) and Jordan Gandy (NIU).

“For him to slide right in there, be physical, stand out to the coaches as a freshman, that was great,” Snyder said. “He’s got some big shoes to fill, playing after Jordan and Donovan, but he’s been around football his whole life. He was going to be our corner if we played in the fall, but he’s basically now a sophomore. So we feel a little better with that. It’s his first year playing high school football but he’s basically two months away from being a sophomore, so we felt comfortable sliding over to free safety.”