The son of Fenwick's athletic director, Jake Thies grew up on the Friars' football sidelines.
One of the players he looked up to was Robert Spillane, a running back and linebacker in high school. Undrafted out of Western Michigan, Spillane is now an established NFL veteran in his ninth pro season and his second year as a starting linebacker for the Patriots.
Last week, Spillane's Fenwick record for career touchdowns fell. The new record holder, with 41 TDs? Thies.
The Iowa commit scored three touchdowns in three different ways — a run, a reception and a pick-six — in a 38-20 Class 6A second-round win against Highland Park.
He'll try to add to the record Saturday afternoon when Fenwick (7-3) goes to Hononegah (9-1) in the 6A second round. Thies was quick to share the credit after a practice this week.
"[The record] definitely means a lot." he told the Sun-Times. "The four years of high school, I've been putting in a lot of work, taking coaching, and [I] really just couldn't do it without my coaches, my teammates. Everyone believes in me, and my coaches have always been really hard on me because they know the potential I have."
What Thies didn't say about the record, Fenwick coach Matt Battaglia did.
"I don't think people even realize that Jake had a thumb injury his sophomore year so he wound up playing only defense because he had a club on," Battaglia said.
What people did realize last year is that Thies is one of the state's elite two-way players.
The 6-foot, 185-pounder made plenty of big plays on both sides of the ball, especially in Fenwick's 38-28 upset of East St. Louis in the 6A title game. Thies ran nine times for 100 yards — including scores of four and 74 yards — caught three passes for 61 yards and ran an interception back 43 yards.
What to do for an encore?
"He's put in the work in the offseason," Battaglia said. "He developed his body. He never missed a workout. So I think you see a lot of that with how powerful a lot of his runs have been, [and] his tackles. That's just more development in the weight room, getting a year older — just natural development to go with his talent."
Thies also had the chance to learn from Spillane, who comes back to Fenwick in the summer.
"I feel like the biggest thing that I've taken from him is how hard you need to play," Thies said. "You've got to be the hardest worker, the hardest player on the team."
Last year, Thies had his older brother Tommy by his side. Now Tommy is a freshman defensive back at Miami (Ohio) and Jake has taken over some of his leadership responsibilities. Battaglia said Tommy was the vocal one and Jake "was more the introverted one.
"And this year, especially on defense, you see him take over as that quarterback of the defense and making the checks, making the calls, getting guys aligned right."
Battaglia, one of the state's top young coaches with two state titles in his first six seasons, said he's often asked where Thies ranks among the players he's had/
"It's like children," Battaglia said. "You can't commit to any one. But the one thing we can commit to and say without a doubt with Jake is his football IQ on both sides of the ball are as good as — he's probably smarter than some coaches out there. Ir's elite level football knowledge that he has. ...
"He understands the big picture."
