Naperville Central senior Matthew Guerin is a linebacker by trade.

That’s the position Guerin played during his freshman and sophomore seasons. But he didn’t see much action there during his first varsity season last year, spending most of the time at fullback as the Redhawks reached the Class 8A state semifinals .

“He could have played linebacker as a junior, but we just had a bunch of seniors that were there, and Matt was so valuable to our run game and blocking,” Naperville Central coach Mike Ulreich said. “So we just got into a rhythm where he was such a big part of our offense.”

But after nine defensive players graduated, it was clear Guerin would be moving back to linebacker.

“We knew we needed to replace not only linebackers but replace experience and leadership,” Ulreich said

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