Kankakee football wraps up first summer under new head coach Ed Hazelett

While he was back in his native Indiana the past four years, Ed Hazelett missed the tenacity of the Kankakee football program that he was the defensive coordinator of. Now back as the team’s head coach, that tenacity has been on full display for Hazelett as the team wrapped up summer camp this week.

“Once I left, I didn’t have players as tough as kids from Kankakee,” Hazelett said. “It was just like, ‘Man, I miss those kids.’ Really just pouring into the community and the community pouring into me, that’s what I missed.

“We’ve just got a grit about us that I love. We’re fighters, and we’re going to continue to fight, no matter what happens.”

Hazelett came in as an assistant to Derek Hart when the Kays began their transformation into a state-respected program in 2019 and was the DC for the 2021 team that made the program’s first – and so far only – state championship game appearance, finishing second in Class 5A.

He left after that season to return to the neighboring state he grew up in, and a year later was reunited with Hart at North Central in Indianapolis. But while he was gone, he kept in touch with some of the kids he’d gotten close to in the program, including at-the-time Kankakee Junior High students who are now making up the football team’s senior core.

Kankakee football coach Ed Hazelett addresses the team following their summer camp Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Mason Schweizer)

“We had a good bond, so when he came back it was like a homecoming. ...” senior defensive back and offensive jack-of-all-trades Cedric Terrell III said. “It was just the same. I can text him outside of football, call him outside of football.”

Defensively, the foundation Hazelett built was kept in place as Miles Osei took over as head coach the past two seasons. A former quarterback and wide receiver at the University of Illinois, the Kays had a much different look under Osei offensively, and for Hazelett the challenge on that side of the ball is balancing what the team is already comfortable and successful with in concert with the new ideas he is bringing back to town.

“Watching film from last year, Coach Osei did a lot of great things with the offense,” Hazelett said. “Defensively, that’s what I instilled. We continued to do that as I left, so we’re pretty much the same on defense, and Coach [Omar] Grant is doing a great job of tuning it to how he wants things ran. Offensively with [quarterback Phillip Turner], we want to do things he’s comfortable with. He has a great arm, and we want to see him use his arm a little bit more and go from there.”

Kankakee's Phillip Turner scrambles during a scrimmage at the Kays' summer camp Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Mason Schweizer)

Turner, a junior who threw for 1,291 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, has gotten more comfortable through his second summer of working as QB1. But he’s also had to make some adjustments from last year’s look to this year’s offense, something he said he’s been able to do during camp.

“The offense has a new play style, and we’ve got to get used to it, so that’s what we’ve been working on over the summer,” Turner said, “getting used to each other and learning the plays.

“I’m definitely more comfortable. Got to play for the city and put the team on my back at all costs.”

In addition to Hazelett’s return, several longtime coaches like Grant and JJ Hollis are back, as is former offensive line coach Kendrick Crite after a year away. There are also former players who played during Hazelett’s tenure that have come back to their alma mater to help keep the familiarity.

“That’s really big,” Hazelett said. “Those guys on the staff that I coached like Ty Stewart, Steve Young, KeSean Williams, they can really preach to the kids like, hey, there’s always a method to his madness.”

Since that state runner-up finish during Hazelett’s last season as an assistant, the Kays have gone a combined 29-6 the past three seasons, qualifying for the postseason each year. A program no longer content with just making the playoffs, hoisting either the Class 5A or Class 6A state championship trophy in November is the ultimate goal on 1200 W. Jeffery St.

As one of the unquestioned senior leaders, Terrell III knows that whether or not they get there, this is his last fall in Maroon and Columbia Blue.

“I don’t take my time for granted,” Terrell III said. “I’ve seen the seniors the last three years cry after their last game, and I know my time is going to come, so I’m just trying to take it in.”

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Kankakee's Omari Houston, left, chases down Ethan Ware during a team scrimmage during summer camp Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Mason Schweizer)