Oswego senior receiver Teddy Manikas, in third varsity season, ready to take center stage in offense

Teddy Manikas only knows one gear.

Oswego’s senior receiver treats every offseason like it’s the season. He spends up to six days a week training – speed, receiver work, lifting, plyometrics.

“I’m always doing something,” he said.

That dedication has not gone unnoticed. Oswego coach Brian Cooney has coached many talented players in his time leading the program. Few bring it every day like Manikas.

“I don’t know the last time we had a kid that worked as hard as Teddy does,” Cooney said. “At times you have to pull him back. His foundation is his work ethic. That is the one thing that sets him apart.”

Oswego will need drive like Manikas’ as it charts a new path this upcoming season.

Cooney can count on one hand the number of starters returning from last year’s team that went 9-0 in the regular season, won the Southwest Prairie West and reached the second round of the Class 8A playoffs.

The Panthers are replacing their entire line on both sides, and a linebacking corps that was the backbone of a talented senior class. Oswego did win conference titles at the sophomore and freshman levels last year.

Manikas, an all-conference receiver as a junior, likes what he sees with fewer than 50 days until Oswego’s Week 1 game at Naperville Central.

“I feel really confident right now,” Manikas said. “I feel like we got a really solid, strong team right now. Even though we lost a lot of guys from last year we have a lot of guys that have stepped up so far. They’ve proven they can play on this team.”

Manikas has more than proven himself.

Invited up to varsity the summer before his sophomore season, Manikas was with the Oswego varsity for all nine games as a sophomore. He made an impact, too, catching two touchdowns in his fifth varsity game.

Cooney, though, noted that last year “was a different type of Teddy.”

Manikas had 23 catches for 272 yards and two touchdowns.

“The steps he took sophomore to junior year were impressive,” Cooney said. “More of the same things that we always saw he could do on film, understanding the offense, faster. If used correctly he can put a defense in compromising positions and opens up opportunities for other kids. Any time you looked he was fighting for extra yards.”

Tough and slippery with the ball in his hands, Manikas indeed has many of the attributes that make for a quality slot receiver.

“He has great hands, great spacial awareness, he understands how to create windows and open them up for the quarterback,” Cooney said. “He has that grit, that willingness whether it is to block or fight for the extra yard or two, and it might turn into 10 or 20.”

Manikas anticipates taking on an even greater role in Oswego’s offense with significant graduations like big-play receiver Jeremiah Cain. Oswego also graduated starting quarterback Brett Connolly, leaving senior Dillon Griffin and junior Drew Kleinhans in competition for the starting job.

“My role has definitely evolved from going from my sophomore and junior year to now,” Manikas said. “My junior year we did not do a lot because we had two D-I receivers on outside so I couldn’t play the outside. Now that I’m a senior they’re bouncing me around everywhere and it’s fun.”

Manikas isn’t the only Oswego senior who anticipates bouncing around.

Mariano Velasco, who started at defensive back as a junior, anticipates double duty on offense and defense this fall.

“My role on this team has definitely got a lot greater,” Velasco said. “I was mainly just a defensive player, but this year they need help on offense, need me as a two-way player. I’m trying to do my best to help both ways at corner and receiver.

“Last year, with the linebackers we had, they took care of a lot of stuff. This year I feel like I have to pick up some of the slack. They were a great role model for me, how they approached every game. I have to have that same mindset, to do the best I can.”

“This is the time of year we’re trying to identify if a kid will go both ways, a certain kid that will not leave the field,” Cooney said. “With Mariano, still developing what that looks like. Both sides of the ball want him.

“He’s a returning starter on defense, he did a lot of good things last year. His home is on defense but if offense needs him he has a high motor and is constantly competing.”