‘He is our heart and soul’ Two-way standout Jadon Mims leads IC Catholic Prep into huge test with Byron

It didn’t take long for Jadon Mims to grasp the standard by which teams are measured at IC Catholic Prep.

Championships.

Two years ago, Mims made a quantum leap, leaving Proviso West, whose last winning season was almost a decade ago, to transfer to IC Catholic, which at the time was coming off its third consecutive state championship.

“When I first got here, our middle linebackers coach looked at me and was like ‘We want rings. We are working for a ring,’” said Mims, now a senior. “He told me when I got here that we have to put in the work to get rings. When I got here it was like work, work, no stop.”

Mims and the Knights are indeed on the cusp of playing for another ring. IC Catholic (11-1) hosts Byron (12-0) in a Class 3A semifinal at 4 p.m. Saturday. With a win, the Knights would have a chance to play for the program’s fourth state title since 2016.

That is an aspiration not taken lightly around the program, especially after the 2019 team lost in the quarterfinals and the spring season was conducted without a playoffs.

“Class of 2022, we look it that if we don’t go to state, we are failures for the program,” Mims said. “We want to be remembered. We want to be the class, coming off the Covid situation, that was another state champion.”

The impact that Mims has left in Elmhurst already won’t be forgotten.

Also an elite wrestler, Mims is the middle linebacker of an IC Catholic starting defense that has allowed just one score over three playoff games. Offensively he’s a starting guard, a position he never played until arriving at IC Catholic. As if that isn’t enough, Mims lines up from time to time at fullback and H-back.

“He is the heart and soul of our program,” Knights coach Bill Krefft said. “Jadon is someone that is unique, coming over here and his progression, and his development – he has got smarter, stronger and faster. Our program is meant to develop kids. We take great pride in that growth from start to finish.”

Mims admitted that it was a culture shock when he got to IC Catholic.

He watched more film than he ever had before. He learned how to play left guard, a position he previously had not played a day in his life.

“It is pretty fun,” he said. “I get to do nasty combos with my left tackles, like to trap and pull. It’s something like a linebacker, where you get to hit people. If I stayed at Proviso I probably would still just be playing linebacker and running back.”

Krefft called Mims his team’s “spiritual leader,” the kind of guy that teams want in their corner in physical football games. Against Marian Central he made a huge interception for a defensive touchdown. Mims leads the defense in tackles with 108 over 11 games, with 16 tackles for loss.

One of the hardest working players in the Knights’ program, Mims has picked up the intricacies of multiple positions – no small chore.

“You go from a guard moving big defensive linemen around to a middle linebacker who has to go sideline to sideline to a fullback with all the leads to the H-back with all the details of our running game. I don’t know anybody else that has to do that,” Krefft said. “It’s a lot. We run a very sophisticated system, a college system. He has to hit that gap on an outside zone, he’s reading defensive linemen when we run the football, at guard you are talking about a zone scheme, all of the nuances of the system are sophisticated. The learning is at a high level.

“Our kids are taught like college kids with the strength training, the speed training we do as a program. We live it. The study of the game and the understanding of the game with the X’s and O’s are all part of being a football player here and he has embraced it. It takes a special kid.”

Mims figures to be quite busy against a wing-T Byron offense that isn’t altogether that fancy – but has been effective in piling up huge numbers. The Tigers, led by All-Stater and 1,000-yard rusher Chandler Binkley, scored 417 points during the regular season, and have averaged 40 points over three playoff games.

“They like to play that smash mouth football,” Mims said. “I think going into this week they feel like they can run it down our throats. We’ll be ready. We have to win first down, put them in big situations and make them one dimensional.”

The two programs are no strangers. IC Catholic in 2017 went up to Byron, a town just outside of Rockford, and came away with a 7-0 victory. Krefft and the Knights know what they’re up against.

“Explosive, downhill football, very physical. They get off the football better than anybody we’ve seen,” Krefft said. “The number of points they have put up are incredible. They are really physical, detail-oriented, patient on offense with a good system and players who fit the system. That ball control offense is scary. What we do defensively, we’re going to do what we do. It’s a simple game. We have to get off the football and we have to tackle.”