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player ready...Highland Park’s Ryan Brincks is making up for lost time.
After sitting out the first eight games last season due to a right knee injury, Brincks, a senior, is contributing heavily in all three phases of the game.
Through four games, Brincks has rarely left the field, starting at running back, linebacker/safety and field-goal kicker.
Brincks scored three rushing touchdowns and booted a 30-yard field goal to end the first half to spark Highland Park to a 31-7 win at Prospect on Friday night. It was the first win of the season for the Giants.
Brincks admitted he’s excited to be a major contributor this season.
“It was very hard not going out there with my teammates and sitting on the sidelines (last season),” he said. “You train all year long for such a short season and missing most of it last year was difficult.”
Highland Park coach Joe Horeni said Brincks had his best running game against the Knights. He rushed for 83 yards and finished with 35 yards receiving.
“Ryan had a really good game,” Horeni said. “It was certainly his best game of the year production-wise offensively. He finds the holes, certainly doesn’t have breakaway speed, but he’s a grinder and will break tackles.”
While he was sidelined last season, Brincks watched a pair of college-bound Giants dominate at their positions. Running back D.J Penick was named all-state in Class 7A by the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association and is a freshman at Murray State. Jacob Swartz is now a walk-on freshman kicker at Miami (Ohio).
“I learned a lot watching D.J last year,” Brincks said. “D.J was a great athlete and very talented, but what I learned most from him was to fight for every possible yard.”
Brincks said he relied on his soccer background from his youth days to take over Swartz’s kicking job this season.
“We didn’t have any kickers, so I tried it out in practice and have been the kicker ever since,” Brincks said.
Besides accounting for most of the Giants’ points Friday, Brincks limited Prospect’s running back by playing a rover role.
“We gave him a job on defense, and he really shined,” Horeni said. “We assigned him the running back, in an option-style defense. Ryan was all over him. He had a really good game defensively.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press