FOOTBALL: Talkinč football with...Bryan Bulaga

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Bryan Bulaga is a busy guy ­ and it seems everyone wants a piece of him. But McHenrycountysports.com's Lester Johnson caught up to the Marian Central junior DE/TE to talk about college recruiting, leadership and how the Hurricanes look heading into next season. Bulaga (6-foot-4, 250) led the Hurricanes with 90 tackles at defensive end and also had five sacks and knocked down three passes. He was a Northwest Herald All-Area Football first team defensive selection.

What colleges are recruiting you right now for football, and is the process stressful? Right now it's not too stressful ­ it's actually very exciting. It's not a bad problem to have. The top schools right now that are looking at me and have made offers are Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue, Northern Illinois and Iowa, and I enjoy every school. I've visited every one, and it's going to be a tough decision as of right now. Those schools want you to play different positions. What are they? NIU likes me for tight end with a chance of transferring to offensive lineman. Iowa likes me at offensive tackle, so I'd start off gaining the weight and going on to offensive tackle. I like that idea a lot because that's what I want to play in college: offensive tackle. Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana all like me at defensive end, and I don't have a problem with that. I'd love playing defensive end in college.

When are you going to make a decision, and what are you looking for in making your choice? I'm thinking about making a decision around summer time so that I don't drag anything into the season. If I can't make a decision, I'm not going to force it, but I'd definitely like to make a decision before I go into the season. The factors are definitely academics ­ academics have to be huge, because I'm going to study criminal justice. Every school has a pretty good criminal justice program, but Michigan State has the best one. I love all the coaches so far, and the guys recruiting me are good guys. It's going to be likeability factor and distance away from home. Distance, academics and athletics are my top three reasons in picking a school.

What do you do in the off-season to stay in shape and get ready for next season? I'm doing basically what all of my other teammates are doing. We're all training hard in the weight room at school and preparing to make a run at a [Suburban Catholic] conference championship. About the only thing I do different than those guys is that I go to my speed trainer, Dave Davis, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

What are your expectations for the upcoming season? We have a lot of confidence with what's going on in the weight room with guys getting stronger and faster, and we're looking better as a team. We had a lot of young guys last year and most of them will be back this year, and we're just getting ready. I think we will make a good run at the Suburban Catholic Conference. Everybody knows that it's a tough conference with teams like Driscoll and Montini in it, but I think we are going to make a run.

You're familiar with District 300's situation: Can you imagine going to a school without sports? I definitely feel for those kids. You have to go to school and that's fun, but sports is something a lot of kids love to do. Coming to school and not being able to do anything after school is terrible. I feel bad for those kids, and I hope things stay in tact.

What is your favorite part of playing football? I love the competition and the intensity of the game. It's basically man-on-man competition, and the guy in front of you wants to beat you as bad as you want to beat him. Team camaraderie and working with 10 other guys all trying to get on the same page.

Is leadership something you embrace? On the football field, definitely. I feel I'm a leader on the team because of size and intensity and I want to win.

Who is your favorite pro football team and player? My favorite pro team is probably the Cincinnati Bengals. I love their uniforms and I love them. My favorite player is probably Jeremy Shockey. He's an intense player and he loves the game, and he's good at it.