Maine South senior Chris Petrucci almost defies description.
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound tight end is so big and so quick that it is hard to find another high school player for a comparison. After all, there aren’t many tight ends his size at the prep level, and even fewer who can do all the things he does.
Petrucci excels at tight end and wide receiver and also stars at outside linebacker.
“I would say he’s definitely a Kyle Pitts type,” Maine South coach David Inserra said, referring to the Atlanta Falcons’ rookie tight end. “We like to split him out a lot and throw it to him, whether it’s a backside with a one-on-one option or put him on the strong side.
“We’ll split him out on both sides and obviously use him as a tight end as well. He creates a lot of easy reads for the quarterbacks.”
Indeed, the Northwestern-bound Petrucci is a quarterback’s dream.
“Obviously, it’s pretty nice to have a 6-5 D-1 recruit to throw the ball to,” Maine South quarterback Rowan Keefe said. “There’s not too many 6-5 DBs on the field, so when I’m in trouble, I know I can throw the ball up to him, and nine times out of 10 he’s going to come up with the ball if I throw it pretty high.”
Living the dream
Petrucci has aimed high ever since he began playing football a decade ago. He dreamed of two things: playing for Maine South and then strapping it up for Northwestern.
“Every kid who grows up in Park Ridge, that’s just their dream … playing for the travel youth team and then idolizing those older high school teams, thinking that’s going to be you one day,” Petrucci said. “It is really awesome.”
Petrucci’s family frequently attended Northwestern games when he was younger thanks to the university’s proximity to Park Ridge.
“Ever since I was a kid growing up, I’d watch all the games and go to a bunch of games and was always going to the campus,” Petrucci said. “It was definitely a dream school to me.”
Petrucci is the type of student-athlete that high school coaches dream about, too, and that college recruiters covet. In a typical game, he plays about 80% of the snaps, starting on both offense and defense and playing some special teams.
“He’s got too much talent to stand on the sideline and talk to me,” Inserra said. “He’s got a 4.4 GPA on a 4.0. He’s a really bright kid, and he uses that to his advantage on the field. He puts himself in the right spot because he can understand not only the game but understand angles, understand concepts very easily, and that helps with anything.”
Petrucci’s analytical mind comes in handy on and off the field. He said his studies translate to the game.
“I’ve always been a pretty big STEM guy, so math and science interest me,” Petrucci said. “I believe it translates a lot, just being on the field, understanding the flow of the game, just being able to make reads and putting yourself in the position that you need to be in.”
Keefe said that separates Petrucci from many other high school players.
“I think one of the great parts of his game is he knows how to get himself open,” Keefe said. “He knows how to reroute himself and present himself so I can find him and find holes in the defense. That’s a great aspect of his game. I think he’s definitely made me a lot better in that aspect.”
That ability means Petrucci might not put up the gaudiest statistics this season. He draws so much attention from defenders that other players are left open, allowing Keefe to pick apart the defense.
“There’s the decoy aspect of it,” Keefe said. “They’ve kind of got to double-team him, so that opens up a lot of stuff for other players on our team. So not only is he himself good, he makes a lot of kids on our team better.”
‘All-in’
For all his receiving skills, Petrucci is just as dominant at outside linebacker in the Hawks’ 3-4 defense. Major college programs recruited him as a linebacker.
“He can drop into coverage, and he can come off the edge, so he is very versatile and, with his length, makes it very hard on high school quarterbacks,” Inserra said. “Many Division I schools looked at him as an outside linebacker.
“Northwestern was his dream school, so when they talked about tight end and when they offered him, he was all-in. He loves the school.”
Petrucci said he loves playing on both sides of the ball but feels more comfortable on offense. He considers receiver to be his natural position.
“I’ve always played receiver ever since third grade, so I’ve been developing that skill set as I’ve gotten older,” he said. “I’ve always been a bigger kid, and I’ve had to grow into my body. But I’ve still been able to work on my routes, just getting a knowledge of the game over the years.
“So that’s definitely helped me over time. Then putting that all together as I got into high school, everything coming together with my size, my speed, my skill, my knowledge of the game has definitely really helped.”
Northwestern plans to use Petrucci more as a blocking tight end, which he said is fine with him. Catching the ball may bring glory, but blocking is crucial to team success.
“You’ve got to love blocking in order to be a tight end,” he said. “I definitely fill that characteristic. Being in the Maine South offense, we have a saying: ‘If you block, you’re going to get the rock.’ I’ve taken that to heart, so I’ve been doing it ever since I’ve been here.”
More to come
It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Inserra and his staff, although this season is the first time many fans are getting to see Petrucci in action. Inserra kept him on the sophomore team in 2019 before Petrucci made his varsity debut during the truncated spring season, which was played in front of a limited number of fans.
“Sophomore year we left him on sophomore to make sure they had enough talent, but also for Chris,” Inserra said. “He was going to play both sides of the ball, every single snap, whereas at the varsity level he probably would have just played receiver.
“We thought it was better for him and better for our sophomore team if he stayed there. He just had a heck of a year. His highlight film from that year is just phenomenal.”
There are those who think Petrucci hasn’t received his full due.
“Aside from his frame, I think he’s a pretty underrated athlete,” Keefe said. “He can move surprisingly well for his build, and it’s not only the physical element he brings to the game. It’s his mental side.
“He knows the offense really well, and we’re on the same page. So we have a great connection on the field. It’s great I’ve got a guy like him.”
Petrucci hardly played on offense during Maine South’s 41-10 victory against Stevenson in the season opener, focusing instead on defense in order to keep his legs fresh for later in the season.
Northwestern coaches have told Petrucci they think he can safely add another 30 pounds of muscle once he gets to college. But that takes effort, and Petrucci is meticulous about staying in shape.
“I definitely do a lot of conditioning and running and stuff like that, cardiovascular exercises,” Petrucci said. “But none of that really matters if you’re not taking care of your body and watching what you’re putting into it.
“Every week you’ve got to make sure you’re getting the right food in there and then making sure you’re hydrated the whole week because it starts before the game. If your body isn’t ready before game day and you’re just trying to load in a bunch of water a few hours before the game, you’ve already lost the battle.”
The Hawks rarely lose any battles on the field, and that’s a testament to the example set by players like Petrucci, who was one of Maine South’s seven all-state academic players in the spring.
“We can win plenty of football games because we know the kids are hardworking, and from our reputation you know our guys love football,” Inserra said. “They’re very coachable kids, and you can get a lot out of them. They understand it pretty quickly, and you can spend time on getting better, not just on trying to learn.”
What remains to be seen is just how far Petrucci can go in football. Does he have what it takes to play in the pros?
“Absolutely,” Keefe said. “He’s got the work ethic and the build and the athleticism to do so. So I don’t see why not.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.