The 6-foot-1, 195 pound senior did it all for Council Rock North. Brandon McIlwain threw for 1,720 yards and 18 touchdowns despite suffering a separated shoulder in Week 4 and fracturing the thumb on his throwing hand in Week 6. He rushed for 1,545 yards and 31 touchdowns.
“He played through multiple injuries this year,” said Head Football Coach Adam Collachi. “He had the shoulder injury and broke the tip of his thumb. He couldn’t throw the ball for two games and yet never missed any time.”
In his career he threw for 6,545 yards and 54 touchdowns and rushed for 3,882 yards and 70 touchdowns. In four years at the quarterback position he had 10,427 yards and 124 touchdowns.
“Athletically he is the most gifted player I have coached or coached against. He is the total package. It’s the leadership and work ethic and he is a great student.”
He played free safety this year on defense.
His team finished 7-4.
Statement game
Back on October 30th, Council Rock North travelled to play Quakertown who was 8-0 at the time. In that game he passed for 222 yards and rushed for 212 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-31 win.
“He makes game changing plays. We were up by three with five minutes to go in the game. We were faced with a third down and eight from the 35 yard line. He threw a 60-yard pass to their nine and scored on the next play to give us a two score lead. If he didn’t make that play all the momentum goes back to Quakertown.”
MLB or College
McIlwain is a pro baseball prospect. There was talk that McIlwain could be a first-round pick in June’s Major League Draft. But he decided to bypass the MLB draft and keep his commitment. He will head to South Carolina to play football and baseball.
“He really started thinking about enrolling early his sophomore year. He had a plan in place. So that option would always be available to him and at the end of the day that was the choice he made.”
