“He’s a dog,” said junior defensive lineman for the varsity football team and recruit of multiple elite college programs, Braeden Jones. “He’s been doing everything for us. I love having that kid around.”
Late in the summer of this football off-season the varsity team welcomed an unexpected arrival in the form of Caleb Tucker, a 330-pound, 6-foot-4-inch freshman. While originally intending to play freshman football with his classmates, Tucker ended up on varsity which has not been done in the modern era of MC.
In the modern era of MC football, there has never been a freshman who rostered for all varsity games throughout the season at a defensive or offensive position. While there have been odd events where a kicker or a punt returner was needed, they were always brought up during the playoffs after the freshman season was over.
Tucker, or “Bonecrusher,” as he is more commonly known, is now the starting nose tackle for the defense. He went to KIPP Chicago Academy, and grew up in West Humboldt Park where he still lives. He, like many MC students, has a long commute and spends forty-two minutes every morning getting to MC.
“I realized I had a goal for myself,” said Tucker. “This is the best school to take on all my goals at.”
The first team Tucker played football for, the Windy City Dolphins, gave him his nickname Bonecrusher.
“That nickname came from when I was five,” he said. “ I was a pretty big five year old.”
He was recruited to play football at MC by “the greatest strength coach,” according to Tucker, MC’s Joe Kubik, and shadowed Rafeeque Katambusi ’24 last year.
“I played for the Naperville Patriots. I don’t want to call myself a dog, but, I was a dog.”
Getting to varsity football was a big step for him.
“We identified a couple underclassmen that really could help on the varsity level,” said varsity defensive line coach John Grubisich. “One of them was Jeremy Harris and the other was Bone. He started off in freshman camp. I would say we had maybe two weeks of him being into freshman camp before we brought him up. He was obviously not your typical freshman. We thought that he was strong enough and quick enough to help us right away on varsity.”
Even when the coaching staff was recruiting Tucker they knew that he would be a big help on varsity at some point in the future.
“We knew Caleb’s name obviously coming in as one of our potential freshmen that would be a difference maker at some point on varsity,” said Grubisich. “Did we know it was going to happen this quickly for him? Probably not, but things just kind of shook out where he was super impressive during the summer.”
There have been some challenges when it comes to learning plays and getting aligned right on the line of scrimmage, though.
“Your freshman playbook is typically like a quarter of what your varsity playbook is,” said Grubisich. “It is that way for a reason, because fourteen year olds are in a much different place than eighteen year olds with their ability to grasp concepts. It’s expected for him to be confused on calls and things like that at this point in his career. Each week he keeps taking a step in the right direction.”
When Tucker first arrived on varsity it was quite a surprise for some of his teammates. Those on the defensive line were still glad to have him though.
“I thought this kid was a fifth-year transfer to be honest,” said Jones. “Apparently he’s a freshman, though, so we’ll take him as he is. This kid has been really great. He has grown since day one, he’s growing every day. I look forward to him growing in the future.”
He does have a lot of time left at MC, and the players who still have time left are excited to help him in the off-season.
“It’s going to be amazing being his senior leader,” said Jones. “I can take care of him in the off season and then we can get to [defensive] line training over the summer. It’s really good that we have that much time together.”
So far Tucker is really enjoying his time here at MC and has had a smooth transition from grade school to high school.
“You get more freedom,” said Tucker. “There’s no teacher on your case about certain things, but they stay on top of your grades, though. I enjoy the academics. Got a great teacher, Mr. Medina. He’s more enthusiastic about everything about the lesson. He explains it more, and he’s one of the best teachers I’ve got actually.”
Caleb Tucker is shattering expectations and longstanding traditions here at MC. Everyone should be excited to watch him play in the future.
“If he pans out how he’s supposed to pan out and continues to work, I think he will be one of the best nose guards in Mount Carmel history for sure,” said Jones.
