Well-grounded Oles lined up an impressive season at Palatine
In a couple of ways, Palatine's Zach Oles is just like a leopard.
The junior quarterback plays football with agility and stealth. He also has great strength and speed.
Unlike, a leopard, Oles can - and did - change his spots.
He began his football career as an offensive and defensive lineman. But by the time he was in high school, Oles, who stands 6 feet, 195 pounds, moved to quarterback.
In his first year as a varsity starter at Palatine, Oles was sensational, leading the Pirates to a 10-3 mark and their first appearance in the state semifinals since 1994.
Oles threw for 2,269 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for 1,267 yards and another 18 touchdowns. He led Palatine, which was picked for fourth in the conference in the preseason, to their second consecutive MSL West title.
For all of that, Oles has been selected as the captain of the Daily Herald's 2015 Northwest all-area football team.
"He has really matured as a quarterback," Palatine coach Rick Splitt said. "He has learned the big picture. It is not that I just have to throw this route, he can see what is available for him."
What was available for Oles early in his football career was a spot with his hand on the ground.
Ole started playing youth football in Palatine when he was in second grade. Larger than most of his teammates, Oles was quickly moved to the line.
"I was always one of the bigger kids, so I played on the line," Oles said. "It was fun playing the line. It taught me a lot about the game."
John Walsh, who was Oles' offensive line coach in seventh grade when Oles last played on the line, said he wasn't shocked at Oles' success.
"The kid was solid," said Walsh, who was a starting offensive lineman at Driscoll, later played at Wyoming and has coached offensive line for 10 years. "He fired off the ball great and we ran behind him a lot. He worked hard all the time and it is not a surprise to me how good he has become. I just thought it would have been as a guard or a center."
Oles had other ideas.
He began to throw the ball in his front yard with his father Jason, a former quarterback who later became a wide receiver at Schaumburg.
"I always told my dad that I wanted to play quarterback," Zach Oles said." So when I got to the highest level in PAFA, I was able to make the weight and I went out for quarterback."
Oles worked through that first year at quarterback, mostly running the ball from a single-wing formation. He threw the ball, but had limited success with it.
"Every day I would throw with my dad in our front yard," Oles said. "But my technique was really bad, so in my freshman year, I started going to a quarterback camp"
Oles began to work in the off-season with Les O'Hara, whose son Devin played excelled Prospect and whose other son Asher is the current starting quarterback at Rolling Meadows. Oles also put in extra time with Palatine's coaching staff to improve his skills further and to develop a rapport with his teammates.
Oles was the starting quarterback on the freshman and sophomore teams. But this season, he was in competition with Matt Lamm, who was a senior and the backup quarterback the year before.
"I have said this many times," Splitt said. "I could have pulled out a lawn chair to watch the two of them compete for the position. That's how hard they worked and how much fun it was to watch them."
Splitt decided to go with Oles, moving Lamm back to wide receiver, a move that paid huge dividends for Palatine. The duo was nearly unstoppable in the playoffs, connecting 22 times for 313 yards and 6 touchdowns.
"I knew we had the talent on our team," Oles said. "It just came down to are we going to execute as an offense?"
It was the receiving corps led by Lamm, who had 55 catches, along with Jovone Stricker, Johnny O' Shea, Courtland Cornelius, Joey Roy, Danny Garcia and Jack Grochowski that really got Oles excited.
"I knew they were fast and talented," Oles said. "Our wide receivers were big. And they made me look good many times."
Even with Oles' 2,269 passing yards, Splitt said Oles' running ability made the difference.
"We are a run-first team," Splitt said. "As a sophomore, he spent the whole summer with us and what he could do... Just his run game and his vision makes him special. The way we teach the read, the way we do things."
There was a lot of on-the-job training for Oles and new offensive coordinator Brad Vojcak. The pair met all summer and at least three times a week to watch film and plan.
"It was as new to me as it was for him," Vojcak said. "He is a student of the game and a smart kid. He gained an understanding of what it meant to be a varsity quarterback. I developed a high level of trust in him and he made my job a lot easier."
Oles credits Palatine's offensive line of Matt Kerlin, Carson Walker, Joey Smearman, Andrew Martino, Alexander Asta and Jason Zych, saying they were terrific in their protection of their brother/lineman this year. Oles was sacked only 4 times the entire season, with two of those coming to a Loyola team that averaged 4 per game.
"My offensive line was great," Oles said. "I had full confidence in them. They opened huge holes for me and made it easy for me to run the ball."