Growing up, St. Rita senior Valen Erickson enjoyed playing basketball and baseball. Football was not even on his radar until he was persuaded to give it a chance in seventh grade.
“My dad wanted me to play,” Erickson said. “I was kind of forced into it a little bit maybe, but it paid off.”
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It sure did. Erickson, a 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive lineman, signed Wednesday with Missouri.
“I would have never thought that I’d be playing in the SEC,” Erickson said. “It took a lot of hard work. I have to thank St. Rita for everything and all my coaches and my family for getting me to this point.”
Erickson grew up in Chicago but moved to Ocala, Florida, for five years before returning to Chicago and enrolling at St. Rita as a sophomore.
In Florida, his love for football blossomed.
“Football was pretty big down there, and that’s where it grew on me,” he said. “Football became a big part of my life.
“I was always a big kid. I was blessed with the size, and I just had to put in the work to get to this point.”
While many football players in the 2022 class felt negatively impacted by the pandemic and a shortened, delayed junior season, Erickson is the rare case where it may have helped him.
With the extra time to prepare before the spring season, Erickson got bigger and better. He was ready to make an impression on college coaches.
“With COVID happening and everything, I put a lot of work in during that time, and when that season started, I really dominated and I started getting that recruiting attention,” he said. “I definitely made a big leap from where I was as a sophomore to my junior year.
“I’d say it was a crazy jump. A lot of college coaches say it’s the biggest jump they’ve seen.”
St. Rita coach Todd Kuska saw Erickson go from a young kid who may have been a bit overwhelmed by Catholic League football to a dominant presence on the line for the Mustangs in the spring.
“He was definitely very raw when he came up here,” Kuska said. “He did not have a lot of knowledge about what we wanted to do and what St. Rita was about. There were some growing pains.
“Then the pandemic hit. That probably really helped him. He had some time to evaluate what he had to do, and he worked really hard to get to the point where he is at now.”
Erickson originally committed to Nebraska but switched his choice in September to Missouri. He is part of a class that was ranked No. 10 in the country by ESPN as of Wednesday night, making it potentially the highest-ranked class in program history.
“It’s historical,” Erickson said. “I really think we’re going to do big things there. I can’t wait for the competition in the SEC.”
First, Erickson will have to rehab. He was expected to have surgery Thursday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury he played through his entire senior season as he helped St. Rita finish as the Class 7A state runner-up.
“It was definitely not comfortable, but I got through it,” he said. “I took some games off, but I just wanted to play as much as I could my senior year.
“It was great to do it with my guys. We came up a little short of the state championship, but it was a great season.”
Erickson, however, is ready for the next step.
“Hard work got me here,” he said. “I never really thought I would get to this point. It’s just a blessing.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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