Dan French felt at home at Marian Central as soon as he put on the Hurricanes’ red and Columbia blue colors as a freshman.

Now a senior, the 6-foot, 215-pound middle linebacker is hoping to spread that positivity to his fellow teammates – and help turn around a program seeking its first winning season and playoff appearance since 2017.

“I love it here,” said French, also an All-State wrestler at the Woodstock private school. “I came here knowing nobody, and football was my way into [Marian]. It’s a brotherhood, and I want to continue that for all the new guys coming in. I want to show them what I saw coming in.”

Along with senior captains Matt Conlon (OL/DL) and Josh Gawronski (CB/Athlete), Marian will be fighting to get back to its winning ways.

Fourth-year coach Liam Kirwan believes, with French, Conlon and Gawronski leading the way, the Hurricanes have a great head start ahead of the team’s home opener Aug. 29 against Richmond-Burton.

“They’ve really stepped up,” Kirwan said of the three senior captains. “They were freshmen when I showed up in 2022, so I’ve spent a lot of time with them. Matt and Dan are three-year starters, and Josh was right there with those guys. He had a couple injuries as a sophomore, then hit a huge growth spurt and led the team in interceptions last year.”

Marian (3-6 overall, 3-4 in the Chicagoland Christian Conference last season) is still on the young side, although the Hurricanes feel like they’re already ahead of schedule.

Six sophomores and two freshmen received significant playing time last year against a challenging schedule that featured six eventual playoff teams. The team returns seven starters on offense and six on defense.

“There’s not a lot of seniors, but they’re a special group because I feel like leadership wise, it’s become more of a player-led team than when I first showed up,” said Kirwan, a 2013 Marian graduate who took over head-coaching duties at age 27. “If you guys know me, I’m pretty energetic, leading the charge, and now I feel like they’ve really taken the lead.

“That’s what I’ve been looking toward as far as building the program and culture wise.”

Conlon took over as the starting center last year, helping direct an offense with then-freshman QB Colin Hernon. He thinks the Hurricanes are poised to make a lot more noise this season with Hernon entering year No. 2.

“It’s just really going to take teamwork,” Conlon said. “Our line is getting big. I think our O-line is going to be a big part of who we are.”

Conlon said Hernon, who took over as the team’s starting QB about halfway through last season, has shown lots of improvement this summer.

Hernon will have help at the skills positions, with WR Max Kinney (17 catches, 309 yards, three TDs) and Eddie Kowalczyk (20 catches, 176 yards; 404 rushing yards, nine TDs) both returning.

“He’s grown so much,” Conlon said of his QB. “His footwork was already good last year, but it’s definitely improved. When he’s in the pocket, he just always has the right mindset.”

Gawronski said last year’s team would let one mistake affect them for the rest of the game.

That’s something they’re looking to change.

“One bad play, we got to stop getting all down,” he said. “We have to start lifting each other up because in those moments, we make mistakes, but when we come together as a team, we start performing better.”

Gawronski, who lives in Woodstock, decided to attend Marian after watching former players like Christian Bentancur and Luke Dalton make big impacts – eventually finding their way to college teams.

“I saw the success of players here making it to college and stuff,” Gawronski said. “I found a great group of guys, found a new start and had a great bond.

“It was a great fit.”

Last year’s group of Hurricanes had to adjust to not having standouts, such as Bentancur and QB Cale McThenia, which helped build an explosive offense that could match points with just about anybody.

“Last year was tough because we were so young,” Kirwan said. “Run game wise, we started to get a better identity but we didn’t have that same explosiveness.”

“Defensively, I thought we took a ton of steps forward. It was our best year defensively yet. More turnovers, points were down, so now it’s really just building on that. When I showed up, it was instilling confidence that we can do it and now it’s the focus to do it every week in and out.

Kirwan believes this year’s group could be the one to turn things around.

“The opportunity is there for us,” Kirwan said. “We’re thin so we’ve got to stay healthy, but we’ve got the talent at the skill spots and a solid offensive line to get it done. Hopefully we can break through.”