Seeing the numbers junior wide receiver Keaton Reinke rolled up like the tally on an arcade pinball machine last season didn’t surprise St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak.
“Not at all,” Pomazak said. “We had promoted him to varsity as a sophomore because he was special. It would have been evident had he been available that whole season.”
Unfortunately, Reinke didn’t get to show it. He broke his collarbone in the second game as a sophomore and couldn’t return until the final week of the regular season.
Not to worry.
When his time came last season, Reinke was ready, catching 82 passes for 1,218 yards to obliterate the previous school single-season records of 49 receptions and 713 yards.
He also had 18 touchdowns, 16 on catches, one on a kickoff return and one on a pass he threw.
Earlier this week, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Reinke announced his verbal commitment to a scholarship offer from Northwestern. It was one of 15 Division I offers he received, including five from Power Four conference schools.
“It’s cartoonish the numbers he’s able to put up,” Pomazak said.
Pomazak was talking superhero comics-type stuff, not the giggles and laughs targeted by most of the funnies in the Sunday paper.
The numbers Reinke can put up are no laughing matter to opposing coaches who have to contend with him for one more high school season.
“He’s big, he’s fast, has an unbelievable catch radius and blocks very well,” Pomazak said. “He’s the most complete wide receiver I’ve coached in 25 years by far.
“We’re gonna throw the ball to him a lot this year, too.”
Reinke, a pitcher in baseball with a fastball that has been clocked in the 90s, also had next-level options in that sport but decided that “I feel like I like football more than baseball, although it isn’t totally out of the picture.”
He’s also talked to the pitching coach of Northwestern’s baseball team. Trying to do two sports remains a possibility, albeit remote at this point.
“After junior year, it just kind of boomed,” Reinke said of his football recruiting. “After the season, a lot of schools came in or reached out. In January, there was a big jump”
He did a few indoor workouts in the winter but much of it was based on coaches studying film.
Two weeks ago, Reinke made an official visit to Stanford. Last week, he went to Northwestern, with plans to visit Iowa and then Minnesota.
His tour didn’t get that far, however.
“I really didn’t have a date I wanted to commit by, but in the back of my mind, I think Northwestern was my favorite all along,” he said.
It’s close to home, has great facilities and top-notch academics, which he thinks will keep him from considering using the transfer portal because he values a Northwestern degree.
He hopes to major in engineering but is considering the many options available in that field.
“The football stadium, they’ve basically torn down and are rebuilding, and it’s supposed to be open my freshman year,” Reinke said.
Reinke had also made unofficial visits with both parents and went to the Wildcats’ game last season at Wrigley Field.
“They told me they were only taking two wide receivers in this class,” he said. “They didn’t really give me a date to commit, but two weeks ago, they had their first wide receiver commit.
“It set off a red light. I felt like this was the time.”
Perhaps he will one day be catching passes from redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Boe, a former DuKane Conference rival who played at Batavia.
“We haven’t talked too much, though,” Reinke said.
He has spoken with junior defensive lineman Carmine Bastone, a St. Charles North graduate who originally walked on at Northwestern. He will be a second-year captain in the upcoming season.
Reinke also is considering graduating early from high school to get an head start in college but is leaning toward staying so he can play a final season of high school baseball.
“We have a lot coming back,” he said.
