Offensive backfield, meet Nate Margulis.
That’s been the refrain for the Deerfield junior linebacker this season. No matter which team the Warriors are playing, Margulis has been a tackling machine.
“If I can hit going full speed every time, I can be productive,” he said. “I can fly around and have some fun. Football, to me, is just fun.”
That comes across from the opening kickoff when watching Margulis. Find the ball, and he’ll be there.
Margulis’ nose for the action is uncanny. He combines certain intangibles with lateral quickness to cast aside the reality that the 5-foot-9, 180-pounder is often a good bit smaller than the players blocking him.
“I’m not the biggest guy, but I think I make up for it with attitude and aggressiveness,” Margulis said. “I’m not going to run somebody over and wow somebody with my size.”
That may be true, but it would take a deep dive to find many other linebackers in the area who are as productive as Margulis. In Deerfield’s 32-25 Central Suburban South loss to visiting Evanston on Friday, he was a one-man wrecking crew with two sacks, a fumble recovery, and gap-filling stops on a fourth-and-short and a 2-point attempt.
Margulis was involved in so many tackles for the Warriors (4-3, 1-2), the public address announcer could have had the same call on a recorded loop.
“We were blitzing a lot more guys, and that gave me more opportunities to come fast off the edge,” Margulis said. “I got a good count on their snap early in the game, and our linemen allowed me to go off the edge almost unblocked.”
The fact that Margulis mentions the linemen in front of him is another piece of his story. He knew the game plan against Evanston (3-4, 2-1) would give him a chance to make plays but that those wouldn’t be possible without his teammates executing on their end.
“That’s the kind of leader he is and the type of kid he is,” Deerfield coach Steve Winiecki said. “We’re blessed to have kids like Nate and how hard they play and how hard they compete.”
Deerfield junior linebacker Mason Venamore took his description of Margulis a little further.
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“He’s just kind of crazy,” Venamore said. “He’s always been that way. He loves to hit people, and he’s flying around all the time. He’s always trying to get us all fired up. He doesn’t care who it is and how big they are, he thinks of himself as everyone’s equal.”
Through the season’s first six games, Margulis led the Warriors with 72 tackles, including 11 for loss. He also had four of the team’s nine sacks.
As was the case against Evanston, there have been occasions during Deerfield’s first season in the more competitive Central Suburban South that the team has been at a size disadvantage. The attitudes of players like Margulis make that less important in the end.
It’s also noteworthy that Margulis is part of a talented junior class that still has its best football ahead.
“Having a younger team allows us to compete against older teams, gain some experience and take something from them,” he said. “Also to bring what we’ve learned into next season. We have a lot of season left in us this year, though, and we’re not going down without a fight.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.