Libertyville’s Myles Batesky wasn’t enthusiastic about playing football when he was a kid.
His father and two older brothers all played the sport. But Batesky didn’t get started until he was in sixth grade.
“I was a little scared,” he said. “I wasn’t the most athletic kid. I was also odd, a little bit zany.
“When I started, I was put on the oldest heavyweight team. I was probably the worst player on the team, hands down, easily. I barely survived.”
Much has changed for Batesky, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound junior offensive lineman who makes things difficult for opponents these days.
“A lot of kids who are bigger when they’re younger, they get labeled as kind of gentle giants,” he said. “But in football, you can attack people without feeling remorse.
“I don’t play dirty. I’m a nice kid off the field. But when the lights come on and in between the white lines, I’m different.”
Libertyville coach Mike Jones said Batesky is the latest standout lineman in a program that has produced many of them. Batesky, who started last season and helps protect senior quarterback Quinn Schambow, has offers from Akron, Eastern Michigan, Marshall and Toledo.
“He’s got good feet and size,” Jones said. “He’s a great student and very self-motivated. He didn’t miss a day of lifting in the offseason. That tells you about his dedication. He has a very high ceiling.”
Batesky also plays basketball and lacrosse. His father, Doug, was a defensive tackle who played at Libertyville and Yale, and his brothers and sister were multisport athletes in high school.
“I love playing sports,” Batesky said. “Growing up as the youngest of four siblings, it got competitive. It feels like my whole life I’ve been competing, just to get the attention of your parents.”
Doug Batesky said he has been impressed by Myles’ work ethic.
“I think what’s really different about Myles is the amount of dedication he put in early on, from eighth-grade morning sessions to riding his bike in the snow,” Doug Batesky said. “He really set up a nice pattern of consistent dedication to make himself better and help him.”
Doug Batesky said he pushed all of his kids to be self-motivated and noted Myles drove himself to unofficial visits to Ball State and Eastern Michigan.
“I’m a process guy,” Doug Batesky said. “Even when I was coming up, I always had a plan, a workout plan. You have to make sure you are consistent and making a plan and sticking to it.”
Among the people pushing Myles Batesky is Libertyville offensive coordinator Danny Schaechter, who had the same role at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., when Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams played there.
“Coach Shack sometimes would parallel my offseason commitment to Caleb’s,” Batesky said. “We lifted four times a week from 7 to 8 in the morning during the offseason for 23 weeks, and I didn’t miss a single day. Coach Shack explained how Caleb had a very similar tendency. He was there every day during the offseason.”
Batesky, who said he has a 4.0 GPA, is excited about the challenge of getting better over the next two seasons.
“I’m beyond ecstatic because a lot of people say these next two years are the best times in your life,” he said. “I’m interested to see how it pans out.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter.
