Ian Swenson. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
Ian Swenson was a running back in his former football life.
“I miss that position,” he says, flashing a Hollywood-esque smiling.
Swenson was once an outside linebacker, too.
“Yes, I also miss playing that,” he says, still smiling, still blinding everybody within 100 yards.
Swenson, today, is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior cornerback for reigning Class 8A state champion Loyola Academy, 10-0 after its 42-14 defeat of visiting O’Fallon High School in a first-round playoff game on Oct. 29.
Wide receivers don’t smile when they have to run routes anywhere near Swenson.
“He’s good at jamming receivers at the line,” Ramblers senior quarterback Tommy Herion says of his University of Connecticut-bound friend, an Evanston resident. “He has the speed and skills to keep up with the best wide receivers, with the fastest wide receivers. He’s extremely lengthy, knocks down passes. Prototypical cornerback. Tough. I had to go up against him all summer.
“I think Ian,” he adds, “is the best cornerback in the state.”
The best wide receiver in the state?
It might be Brother Rice’s Ricky Smalling, a 6-1, 200-pounder, a University of Illinois recruit and Swenson’s challenging assignment in Loyola Academy’s 48-37 victory in Chicago on Oct. 21.
“Explosive,” Swenson, a lacrosse player (long stick middie) in the spring, says of Smalling. “One step, and he’s gone.”
Swenson knocked down a couple of passes intended for Smalling. He has come down with a pair of interceptions in 2016, one against Mount Carmel on Sept. 9, the other against Wheaton St. Francis on Sept. 17.
“I love it,” Swenson says of the cornerback position, adding two of the keys to playing the position well are sound footwork and proper positioning. “Junior year, it was my job. I did what I was I supposed to do. This year, I still do my job, with permission to branch out a little, to play with a little more freedom than I did last year.”
Swenson grew up in a household of accomplished Loyola Academy athletes. Big sister Evan (LA, ’13) sped to a state swimming championship in the 100-yard breaststroke, in 2012, and swam at USC for three years before deciding to play only water polo for the Trojans during the 2016-17 academic year. Big brother Christian is a sophomore at Tufts University in Massachusetts, running cross country and track for the Jumbos.
“Role models, both of them,” Ian says. “My sister was good at telling me to step up, at giving me tips, at reminding me about the benefits of hard work.”
Swenson and Herion, an Edison Park resident, go back. Way back. They played football against each in grade school but played basketball together for Chicago Hustle age-group squads; Herion’s father, Tom, is the Chicago Hustle founder and head boys and girls coach.
“Athletic, fast, coachable,” Tom Herion says of Swenson. “Very coachable, and he’s a great defender.”
Tommy Herion transferred from Notre Dame High School in Niles to Loyola Academy last year. This season is Herion’s first as the Ramblers’ starting quarterback. Reunited, Swenson and Herion — and Loyola Academy’s football is so good. Still.
Is there a better athlete than the athlete who is dominant on the field and humble in street clothes? Probably not. Swenson is such an athlete.
“Ian is a very polite, unassuming young man, with great athletic abilities, with a great skill set,” Ramblers coach John Holecek says. “He can run with anybody and is often directed to shut down our opponent’s best receiver. He has no ego. He’s a great teammate.”
Notable: Loyola Academy hosts Oswego East (9-1) in a Class 8A second-round game on Nov. 5, beginning at 1 p.m. … Loyola Academy scored 42 unanswered points in its 42-14 defeat of visiting O’Fallon in a Class 8A first-round playoff contest on Oct. 29. The Ramblers trailed 14-0 in the first half and led 21-14 at intermission, Ramblers senior linebacker Anthony Romano providing a crucial boost with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter. Ramblers senior running back Kyle Rock rushed for 73 yards on 20 carries and entered the end zone three times (TD runs of one, one, five yards); LA senior quarterback Tom Herion completed 20 of 28 passes for 283 yards, including a 14-yard TD toss to senior wideout David Terrell (8 catches, 121 yards) at 5:37 of the third quarter. Terrell tight-roped the sideline of an end zone as he came down with the spiral, barely staying in bounds. Tomas Henning, a senior running back, scored the Ramblers’ other TD, scooting one yard to cut the visitors’ lead to 14-13 in the second quarter. Other significant stats for the victors included Herion’s 42 yards rushing, on seven carries, and senior Jake Marwede’s four receptions for 53 yards.