Scouting the Mundelein Mustangs

Building a winning program takes time. For a first-year coach, memorizing the name of every player on the roster takes time too.

Vince DeFrancesco has little patience for either. The former Vernon Hills star was selected by Mundelein last spring to run its football program, and he's been busy ever since then, putting together his playbook and staff, while familiarizing himself with the student-athletes in his program.

"His energy is just wild," Mustangs senior quarterback Isaac Wellman said. "He loves football. You can see it in his face, and you can hear it in his voice. He just wants to win, and we're all buying into it. So now we all want to win, and hopefully we will."

When DeFrancesco arrived at Lincoln Park in 2015, the Lions had never won a conference championship. They did that in 2017, going 7-0 in the Chicago Public (Big Shoulders). Lincoln Park counted 2 state playoff berths in its history before earning four in as many seasons and going 28-13 under DeFrancesco.

"At Lincoln Park, I had maybe 20 kids in the program the first day," said DeFrancesco, who also served as the Chicago school's athletic director for the last two years. "We built that up to 90 kids.

"I know it's going to be difficult (at Mundelein)," he added. "But I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be here for a while. I'm 31 years old, I got a ton of energy, got a lot of passion, and I think that's contagious."

When he got the job at Mundelein in March, one of DeFrancesco's first orders of business was to commit to memory the names of his new players.

Done.

"At the start of camp, I knew every kid's name," DeFrancesco, who's also a wellness teacher in the building, said proudly. "I had met them, and I had had a real conversation with them. I'm very much a relationship guy."

When the Mustangs started practice this month, DeFrancesco had 125 players, including 45 freshmen, registered. Those are good numbers for a program that has never won a state-playoff game and has played only 2 postseason games.

"I work super hard, and I tend to make really good relationships with kids," DeFrancesco said. "I think at the end of the day, I can get kids to work hard, and I can create a culture that's successful."

Talent helps. In Wellman (6-2, 170), the Mustangs have a player who started the majority of last season at QB and also took snaps at wide receiver. Speedy running back Shawn Patrick played varsity as a sophomore last year, while fellow junior running back Joey Foreman was a midseason call-up.

Mundelein ran a spread, no-huddle attack last year under coach Larry Calhoun. DeFrancesco ran a combination of spread and power at Lincoln Park, but it remains to be seen what formations and schemes he'll use at MHS.

"We'll be balanced," he said with a grin.

"I love the playbook," Wellman said. "It's fast, and it's very confusing for the (defense) to get."

Defensively, Mundelein returns junior inside linebacker Rudy Osornio (all-conference honorable mention last year), as well as junior outside linebacker Alex Wing, senior safety Edder Rebollar, senior inside linebacker Drake Morton and senior lineman Kevin Conejo.

"We're going to be tough defensively," DeFrancesco said.

Wellman can't wait to get the season started. The Mustangs host Maine West on Opening Night.

"It's senior season. It's the last one," Wellman said. "You get the opportunity to go out there and just go beast-mode."