12 from Council Rock North commit to NCAA sports (VIDEO)
NEWTOWN – A dozen athletes committed to collegiate sports this morning (Thursday, Feb. 18) at Council Rock High School North including three football players and three baseball players though one of those – former Indians quarterback Brandon McIlwain – is planning on playing both sports at the University of South Carolina.
McIlwain is just the man to pull it off, too. Late last year, USA Today named Brandon All-USA Pennsylvania State Football Player Of The Year and first-team quarterback.
The two-sport star threw for 1,720 yards, ran for 1,545 and scored 48 total touchdowns while leading the Indians to their first Suburban One League (SOL) football title since 2006.
In baseball, McIlwain hit .433, with 25 runs scored and 27 RBI. For power, he added five doubles, two triples and five home runs.
On the mound, Brandon allowed 15 runs and 36 hits in 41 innings pitched. His walk-to-strikeout ratio was 21 walks and 38 strikeouts. In the field, McIlwain limited his errors to three in 21 games played for a .914 field percentage.
Last summer, The Philadelphia Inquirer named McIlwain All-Southeastern State First Team as an outfielder.
Already, McIlwain has departed the Newtown high school campus for Columbia. Reports say Brandon is hard at work competing in offseason conditioning programs for both football and baseball.
The Gamecocks baseball team opens tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 19) at home vs. Albany so practice on the diamond has been a daily regimen for the former quarterback, pitcher and outfielder for the Indians.
CR North head football coach Adam Collachi – who has been in communication with his former QB via telephone – reports that, already, McIlwain has hit a few home runs in baseball practice.
Before enrolling at South Carolina, Brandon was rated the No. 16 best high school prospect for the 2016 MLB Draft by Baseball America and D1Baseball. In football, he earned 2015 Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Pennsylvania and ranked as a four-star prospect by Rivals and the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country by 247Sports.
Contact the author at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2016 COLLEGE COMMITS
Brandon McIlwain, Football, University of South Carolina
Devon Bibbens, Football, Lehigh University
Thomas Hewitt, Football, College of the Holy Cross
Matt Hand, Baseball, Lehigh University
Jared Schram, Baseball, Bloomsburg University
C.J. Kilgarriff, Baseball, Philadelphia University
Tori Hill, Soccer, Syracuse University
Jennica Jonovich, Field Hockey, The Ohio State University
Madison Schlucterer, Swimming, Butler University
Connor McGuigan, Lacrosse, University of Tampa
Nicole Rounsavil, Softball, Colgate University
Madelein Herr, Golf, Penn State University
