St. Ignatius’ Reid and Connor Hites have a familiar football origin story.
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Two brothers throw the pigskin in the backyard. The one with the stronger arm becomes a quarterback, and the other becomes a receiver.
In the case of the Hites brothers, there was no backyard because they grew up in Lincoln Park. They had a turfed patio on top of the garage with some netting to prevent them from falling off.
“We would go out there, play catch, play one-on-one, just try to tackle each other, that kind of stuff,” Connor Hites said. “We used to have these Bears jerseys. We’d put on pads that were way too big for us, go outside and just hit each other.”
Reid Hites, the younger brother, is St. Ignatius’ starting quarterback as a junior. Connor Hites started out playing wide receiver, but these days he’s a hard-hitting hybrid linebacker and senior leader of the defense for the Wolfpack (5-1), who are ranked No. 13 in the baiduhai’s Top 25.
Connor Hites received a number of Division I scholarship offers, including one from West Virginia, but committed to play at Penn in the Ivy League. He chose to follow in the footsteps of his father, Kevin, who played football at Brown.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Connor Hites doesn’t necessarily project as an intimidating presence. But in the mind of St. Ignatius coach Matt Miller, he fits perfectly in a modern college defense.
“He’s a college nickel, and that’s become very popular,” Miller said. “He’s a smaller linebacker that can cover. In today’s game, that’s why he’s been so highly recruited. It’s such a highly coveted spot. The Mike linebacker with the neck roll, plugging the A-gap, was phased out.”
In spirit, at least, Connor Hites is still an old-school Catholic League linebacker, a constant threat to knock the wind out of an opponent.
“He’s flying into contact like nobody I’ve seen,” Miller said. “He plays fearless. It’s impressive.”
Reid Hites was set to be the starting quarterback last year. But during the Week Zero scrimmage — a practice that the Illinois High School Association discontinued — he landed awkwardly after a tackle, suffered a broken arm and needed surgery.
The Wolfpack went 2-7 in the regular season against a brutal schedule, but Reid Hites healed and returned to lead them on a three-game winning streak and Prep Bowl victory over Morgan Park.
“The first week I was back, it was a little bit rough trying to get back into the swing of things,” he said. “After that first week went by, I feel like I picked it up and got in that groove again.”
St. Ignatius had its first taste of playoff success in 2022 and 2023, reaching the Class 6A semifinals and Class 8A quarterfinals, respectively. Its reward was getting placed in the CCL/ESCC Blue, the Catholic League’s highest division, which likely contributed to a pair of losing seasons.
Assigned to the CCL Orange this season, the Wolfpack (5-1) led in the fourth quarter against No. 5 IC Catholic and then knocked off No. 18 Fenwick, No. 22 St. Rita and Carmel the past three weeks. The toughest test to this point arrives Saturday against No. 2 Loyola.
“Everybody on our team thought this is how the season would go,” Connor Hites said. “We all have really high standards for our team and high expectations, especially coming into the season with a chip on our shoulder after these last two seasons where everybody’s been counting us out.”
St. Ignatius had been known for academics and maybe having the best view from the practice field of any school in America. On Roosevelt Avenue, players can look up at the Chicago skyline while going through drills.
The Hites’ parents grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana, and Akron, Ohio, but fully committed their sons to city living.
“I feel like we’ve grown up around it, so it’s kind of normal to us,” Reid Hites said. “We actually were born in California and then moved here so my dad could work in the city. I feel like both of our parents love the city and don’t really like rural areas.”
Start with the view, stick around for some wins.
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