Glenbard West’s Mason Ellens follows in family footsteps, set to be jack-of-all trades

Mason Ellens plans to be a busy man on the football field this fall for Glenbard West.

Football, it’s the family business.

Ellens, a Glenbard West rising senior and recent Iowa State commit, is the middle child of five. Four are boys, and all played football like their dad.

Ellens’ older brother, Julius, was an All-State running back at Glenbard West as a junior and is now a freshman at South Dakota. The oldest brother, Noah, was a standout running back at Minooka and played collegiately at Nebraska-Kearney.

“We’re never really home, always on the road,” Ellens said.

Mason Ellens himself is proving to be a fine player in his own right. All-State and all-conference as a junior, he played safety as a sophomore and cornerback as a junior. Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet plans to plug Ellens back in at safety this fall for a defense with a fair amount of holes to plug. A jack-of-all-trades, Ellens could also play running back and receiver this fall, and return kicks and punts.

“There’s a lot of spots we can put him at,” Hetlet said. “We know what he can do.”

Ellens can certainly run, clocked at 10.73 seconds in the 100-yard dash and 21.84 in the 200. That kind of skill set attracted the attention of Iowa State and other schools. Ellens committed to Iowa State while on an official visit in June.

“One of the coaches came in three months ago and he said he wanted to get to know me. Two weeks later I went out to the summer practice and the connection grew,” Ellens said. “I loved the environment, reached out to the coach with my track times, I did a little workout with them.”

Ellens said that other schools recruited him as a receiver, or offered him as a cornerback. But he likes the dual roles that a position like safety brings.

“Safety, I like it. You guard people and you get to come up and hit,” Ellens said. “I like to come up and hit people. I like guarding people as well and making plays. For me, I’ve been spending my offseason breaking up passes, and getting to the ball and recognizing routes.”

Glenbard West, coming off an 8-3 season, has a bear of a start to the 2024 season.

The Hilltoppers host 2023 Class 7A semifinalist Batavia in Week 1, then welcome defending Class 8A champion Loyola to Duchon Field in Week 2. After that, Glenbard West opens West Suburban Silver play against 2023 Class 7A runner-up Downers Grove North.

Glenbard West brings back plenty of talent on the offensive side.

Ellens could line up at multiple spots, and 6-foot-7, 285-pound Northwestern recruit Michael O’Connell anchors the offensive line. Hetlet likes the way sophomore quarterback Oliver Valdez is throwing the ball, and is also impressed with 6-foot-3 sophomore tight end Brady Johnson.

Senior running back Teyion Oriental was the West Suburban Silver Offensive Player of the Year as a junior, taking the reins after Julius Ellens went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1.

“As good as he was last year, he’s so much better now,” Hetlet said of Oriental. “I don’t want to say he’s thinned out but he’s more muscular than he was, and he’s just a better player. He’s faster and he’s stronger. I think he’s going to be one of the best running backs in our league. He will be dynamic. At 7-on-7s he is just amazing. Plus he can play quarterback if we need him to. He has that ability, so we can play at him at other positions which is good.”