Gavin Mueller, after two years away from football, now has 11 offers and poised for big year at St. Francis

Gavin Mueller has not played a down of high school football, and yet the St. Francis junior already holds 11 scholarship offers from the likes of Florida and Wisconsin.

Tight ends his size don’t grow on trees.

St. Francis coach Bob McMillen is thrilled to have the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Mueller back on the football field. He first talked to Mueller about coming to St. Francis when the curly-haired kid was an eighth-grader at St. Isadore in Bloomingdale.

Mueller came out for football for a week as a freshman, then opted to play basketball. He started for two years for the basketball team, and was a shot put and discus sectional champion in track and field.

But Mueller got the itch for football after two years away.

“He fell in love with the weight room, got bigger, stronger and faster, we started talking and he said ‘Hey coach I’m thinking I might try to play football again,’” McMillen said. “He was having a good basketball career but things weren’t going from a recruiting standpoint the way he wanted and he started working out with us. Coaches saw his size, saw his frame and said this kid has an opportunity to be good.”

Mueller is an intriguing addition for a St. Francis team coming off back-to-back semifinal appearances, last season in Class 5A. The Spartans must replace a quarterback (Alessio Milivojevic) who threw for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns, and a linebacker (Dom Beres) who had 177 tackles.

But McMillen believes St. Francis is set up for a solid two-year run with a strong junior class led by Mueller and quarterback Brady Palmer.

Mueller was considering a return to football for a while, with McMillen working on him and good friend from St. Isadore days Palmer pleading with him at the lunch table.

He made the decision to come back official in April. It didn’t take long for colleges to start showing their interest.

“When I got my first scholarship I was running a route on air. I walked back to the huddle and the coach is like ‘We’d like to offer you a scholarship’ and I was like ‘I haven’t even run a route against someone,’” Mueller related. “Coach Bob was telling me it would happen eventually but even he didn’t expect this.”

A flood of offers followed from Florida to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois from the Big Ten as well as Cincinnati and multiple Mid-American schools. Florida and Texas A&M are his latest offers.

“Now you got SEC schools coming around,” McMillen said. “He’s going to have opportunities. Now he just has go go shine on Friday nights.”

McMillen’s come across similar scenarios of a player returning to football after a few years away, but usually it’s younger kids. He acknowledges that Mueller is very raw right now, but he likes everything he’s shown in practice.

“You don’t find a kid that often with that size and that strength and how he runs, his stature and how he goes about himself,” McMillen said. “There are a couple things he needs to polish up on with separations and being able to go attack the football. But he’s doing a nice job so far.”

Mueller estimated that he’s probably put on 55-60 pounds since he last played football. The return to football is an adjustment, but Mueller does not sound overly concerned.

“The physicality was something I was not used to for a while, but athleticism-wise and strength-wise I’m up to par from other sports,” Mueller said. “Just getting back to hitting, it’s second nature.”

Building a connection with his quarterback didn’t take long.

Mueller and Palmer both went to St. Isadore, and have been in English class together since the eighth grade. Mueller said he dragged Palmer onto the basketball court, and he’s more than happy to return the favor to reconnect on the football field.

“Brady is probably the smartest player I’ve played with, super high IQ, and he’s got that dog mentality, ready to work all the time,” Mueller said. “Lastly, he’s just a great leader. Super athletic. And the ball he throws is great.”

Palmer, Milivojevic’s understudy last year, is pleased as punch about adding a new dimension at tight end in his good buddy Mueller.

“He brings everything we need,” Palmer said. “We got an extra blocker now and he opens up our whole offense. We had tight ends that could play last year but not the same receiving threat that can run. Now we got 6-foot-6, we got the height, you just put the ball up when you need to. If something breaks down we have that weapon.”