Brandon McIlwain: From the Backyard to the SEC

How Brandon McIlwain became Brandon McIlwain: A Journey from the Backyard to the SEC to Possibly the NFL 

By Jarrad Saffren 

Brandon McIlwain. 

High school football star. Top college recruit. Potential first round pick. 

These are the basics that every sports fan in the Philadelphia-area already knows about the Council Rock North quarterback.  

Most fans, coaches, and teammates think McIlwain has a real shot at making the NFL. They will follow McIlwain’s progress starting with spring practice at South Carolina in a few months. 

But not as many people know how McIlwain got to this point.

Each step in his journey has raised a similar theme. People are attracted to McIlwain because of his ability. But they fall in love with his work ethic and leadership skills.

Childhood

McIlwain does not hesitate when you ask how he discovered football. 

“My dad was huge into sports,” said McIlwain. “He had me try every different sport when I was young to see what I’d like and enjoy.” 

Roddy McIlwain was not a helicopter parent. He just knew firsthand the benefits of playing for a team.

“Sports teaches you so much about leadership, strength, and working with others around you,” said Roddy. “My original intention was to give him the skills he needed to lead a corporation.”

Roddy’s own parents, Brandon’s grandparents, exposed Roddy to sports for similar reasons.

“They put me in sports to learn how to be a team player and get along with players around me,” Roddy said. 

Roddy is now the head of the Oncology and Medical Device division for Otsuka Pharmaceutical, a multinational corporation. He credits sports for his professional success.

“They taught me how to lead different personalities and motivate people,” said Roddy. “Not everyone is motivated by the same thing. You have to learn how to help people get to their maximum potential.”  

Roddy played varsity basketball in high school but did not earn a scholarship. He originally thought Brandon “would go as far as I go” with sports. Starting at age three, Brandon was exposed to every sport with a youth organization. 

He played basketball, lacrosse, football, baseball, and soccer.

“I even trained him for hockey until I realized you have to get up at 5 am,” said Roddy.

Brandon did not rebel against the busy schedule. He embraced it.

“He was the type of kid who whatever season it was, that was what he wanted to play,” said Roddy. “He wanted to pitch and throw in baseball season, shoot around in basketball season.”

But Brandon knew early on that he preferred football.

“It’s exciting. Every play something explosive happens,” McIlwain said. “I loved watching the NFL and college players growing up.” 

When Brandon was nine, the family moved from New Jersey to California. That fall, Roddy coached Brandon’s football team, the San Ramon Thunderbirds. Brandon played offensive guard because he “still had some baby fat.” 

One of Roddy’s assistants, who played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys, said Brandon had a future as an offensive lineman. But when the team’s quarterback got hurt, Roddy put Brandon under center. He played so well that the coach of the 10-year-old team wanted him to play quarterback the next year. 

That’s when Roddy knew.

“The coach ran a spread at 10. Brandon could not only run but throw. He was a little better than the other players we had seen,” Roddy said. “You could tell he had something.” 

Roddy was going to make sure his son had every advantage. 

Ages 11-13: The Quarterback Whisperer

Will Hewitt played quarterback at the University of Nevada, the University of Dubuque in Iowa, and in the Arena Football League. After a few years away from the game, he entered the burgeoning world of private quarterback coaching. 

Hewitt started working for the National Quarterback Academy, which ran camps across the United States. He discovered McIlwain at a football camp in 2008, when Brandon was 10.

“He had raw athletic ability,” said Hewitt. “It was one of those things where you’re like, ‘Who’s that kid? I want to know more about that kid.’” 

Hewitt approached Roddy, who was looking for a personal coach for his son.

“I said (to Brandon), ‘I didn’t want you to do it like I did and learn on the fly. We are going to do this the right way,’” said Roddy. “Will said, ‘I’d love to work with him.’”

They started training once a week, and Hewitt focused on McIlwain’s release point.

“He’s a highly talented baseball player, where multiple arm angles are acceptable. So he had a very low delivery when we first started working,” Hewitt said. “You get this a lot when kids are better athletes. They skip over fundamentals and get away with it.”

Unlike many other “better athletes,” McIlwain wanted to learn the right way. 

“He was exceptionally coachable. He would listen and implement and paid more attention than most kids that age,” said Hewitt. “I learned from working with him that those traits never stopped coming out.”

McIlwain raised his release point. Once it became second nature, Hewitt taught McIlwain to identify coverages.

“At 12 years old, that kid knew what most high school juniors and seniors knew about reading a defense,” said Hewitt. “The kid’s IQ is off the charts.”

By seventh grade, McIlwain had reached unprecedented heights, said Hewitt.

“I thought he was the best quarterback in the country,” Hewitt said. “i said, ‘I’ve never seen someone do what you do out there.’ Ever. He was intuitive, athletic, a better leader.” 

Hewitt still uses McIlwain’s seventh grade film to teach new students. 

After seventh grade, the McIlwains moved back east, to Newtown, and Brandon was ready to take the area by storm. 

Eighth Grade: A Seamless Transition

Newtown Middle School football coach Jason Carr knew about McIlwain before the quarterback showed up for workouts in the summer of 2010.  

“I had seen footage of him as a seventh grader for a team he played for in California and knew he was a very special talent,” said Carr.

Then, when McIlwain arrived and entered the quarterback competition, Carr saw him throw.

“He picked up a football and threw it and I was like, ‘I can’t throw a football like that,” Carr said.

“I noticed he threw a perfect spiral,” said best friend and teammate James Closser. 

After a week of practice, the quarterback competition could no longer be labeled as such.

“His ability to command an offense and understand the game, you could see it right away,” Carr said. “You could tell he had been coached and well-coached and was a very intelligent player. The way he grasped concepts was pretty unique. You don’t see that from a 13-year-old kid.” 

But, despite McIlwain’s talent and acumen, Carr said he was more impressed with the quarterback’s personality.

“The thing that I was most taken back by was his ability to immediately be a member of the team, to make friends, be a leader,” said Carr.

“He was very social and easy to talk to,” Closser said. “Whether it’s trying to be funny or rallying the guys behind him.”

Newtown had a very talented team in the fall of 2011. Carr’s squad went undefeated in 2010 and brought back two players—Closser and Seth Leuz—who would start as freshmen at CR North. The only unsettled position was quarterback. Now, Newtown had the area’s best signal-caller in recent memory. 

Carr’s team went undefeated again and outscored opponents 350-12.

“The talent was so unique that it was difficult to find a good game. Kids who would start the game were only playing a half, the score got so lopsided so quick,” Carr said. “Kids like Brandon, James, and Seth, you would score in one, two, or three plays from anywhere on the field.” 

McIlwain allowed Carr to diversify his offense. Newtown’s base set was a power-eye. But, once McIlwain won the job, Carr added a spread formation and some pro-style formations. 

Carr has coached in Council Rock since 2001. He coached New York Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh at Holland Middle School and against former Unami quarterback Matt Johns, who went on to play for the University of Virginia. 

He said McIlwain was way further along than either.

“In middle school, there was no comparison,” said Carr.  “You never know how kids are going to develop from 13-years-old to 17, 18-years-old. But the path was in front of him. He just had to go get it.”

And he did, starting the following spring. 

High School Part I: The First Three Years

Newtown eighth graders typically go to North for football workouts at the end of spring. McIlwain went up earlier to work with the quarterbacks.

“His dedication and maturity stuck out right away,” said North coach Adam Collachi. “His athleticism stuck out too, of course.”

McIlwain learned the offense and won the job. His talent and work ethic were two main reasons. But his leadership clinched him the spot.

“His leadership qualities were far beyond anything you’d see for a kid his age,” Collachi said. “He won the respect of the upperclassmen. That was the dealmaker. Once we saw he had the respect of them, it made our decision even easier.”

McIlwain struggled as a freshman, as did North’s young team.

“There were interceptions. He forced the ball,” said Collachi. “What you would see with any young player.” 

“High school was completely different,” McIlwain said. “I was playing more athletic guys. I was also playing against 18-year-olds as a 14-year-old. It’s completely different from playing a lot of 13-year-olds.” 

McIlwain threw 15 interceptions, a high school career-high. He was a Michael Vick-style running quarterback, leading the Indians with 715 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.  

“He always kept his composure, which is incredible for a young kid,” said Collachi. “We knew what we had athletically. We just wanted to make sure he could handle the pressures of the SOL, by far one of best high school football conferences in the country.”

As the season went on, McIlwain and the Indians improved. North finished 5-5, going 4-2 after a 1-3 start, including a season-ending win over neighborhood rival Council Rock South.

The Indians carried their momentum into McIlwain’s sophomore campaign. The QB was named a captain before the season and took control of the offense. From the start, it was clear that McIlwain was no longer a running quarterback.

“He understood the protections better. His progressions and reads were a lot better,” said Collachi. 

Much like Newtown, North added to its base offense because McIlwaine was so versatile. The Indians ran a base spread but added more QB runs, options, and deep passes. Collachi also let McIlwain check out of plays when he “saw something he could take advantage of.” 

“I never gave another QB that privilege,” said Collachi, who has been coaching high school football since 1998. “Brandon earned the right to do it. He’s such a student of the game. He understood what we are doing and what defenses are trying to do.”

North went 7-3 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2009, losing in the first round to Garnet Valley. McIlwain again led the team in rushing yards and touchdowns. He also raised his completion percentage from 49 to 55, decreased his interceptions from 15 to nine, and threw 11 touchdowns.  

By his junior year, McIlwain “understood everything.” He led the Indians to 5-1 start and scholarship offers started coming daily. The Indians faded down the stretch, however, dropping three of their last four and losing again in the first round of the playoffs. 

The result was disappointing. So McIlwain, Closser, and four teammates sought help from a former Philadelphia Eagles running back. 

Vaughn Hebron Enters the Picture

Every Eagles fan remembers Hebron, either as a player for the team or an analyst on Comcast SportsNet’s "Eagles Postgame Live."

Not as many people realize that, in 2004, Hebron opened VMS Movement Specialists, a fitness center and personal training studio in Newtown. Hebron has an alternative approach to training that rejects the idea of lifting as much weight as possible to build mass. 

“My program is all about movement, being explosive, being powerful,” said Hebron. “People want to get strong. For me it’s about power. The ability to move a certain weight, and be fast and explosive.”

Hebron uses core exercises and full-body workouts to “build the total body.” After the 2014 season, McIlwain and five teammates came to VMS.

“It’s not like they weren’t successful,” said Hebron. “For them to still seek out something different, and basically change everything they’d been doing, showed me a lot about their character.”

Hebron told McIlwain he had to lose 15 pounds.

“Brandon, who’s also a running QB - he equated strength and power with being heavy. He thought that was part of it,” Hebron said. “I told him he’d become stronger, more explosive, and a better player. He thought that was crazy.”

McIlwain worked out with Hebron five or six days a week and counted calories on the Lose It! application on his iPhone. He lost 20 pounds between his junior and senior seasons. Hebron and Closser said McIlwain went from running over defenders to blazing past them. 

“It helped because he had a broken thumb for a few games (this past season),” Closser said. 

“I said Brandon look, ‘Obviously you’re a big kid. But at this level, or in the SEC, you ain’t gonna make a living running through people,’” said Hebron. “If you ask anybody before he came to me, Brandon was a fast kid. But it went to another level. The first thing was becoming more leaner, more explosive. His legs became stronger.”

So did his game. 

2015

Hebron’s program helped elevate McIlwain and the Indians to their best season yet.

In 2015, North won its last four regular season games. A 21-point win over South in the season-finale clinched the SOL Continental title, the first league title of the McIlwain era. 

McIlwain scored 51 touchdowns, 31 rushing, 18 passing, one interception return, and one kickoff return. He played almost every snap on defense and was named First-Team All-SOL Continental at both safety and quarterback. He was named the 2015 Gatorade PA Player of the Year and the PA Class AAAA Player of the Year.

Everyone has a favorite McIlwain game from 2015. Collachi’s favorite was the 41-31 thriller over undefeated Quakertown on Oct. 30.

“He has the ability to put the team on his back and say, ‘We are not gonna lose tonight,’” said Collachi. “That night we are playing for our playoff lives and he had six touchdowns.”

One play stuck out.

“We were up three and it was third-and-seven from our 25, and he threw a 60-yard pass that totally broke Quakertown’s backs,” Collachi said. 

Hebron’s favorite was the 53-0 win over William Tennent in week five. One week earlier, in a five-point win over Central Bucks East, McIlwain separated his shoulder.

He went to VMS six days that week.

“He went from not being able to lift his arm, to only being able to throw 10 yards, to being able to throw 40 yards,” said Hebron.

McIlwain threw four touchdowns against Tennent. 

Still, despite the highlights, McIlwain and the Indians lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

“We could never get over that hump,” said Collachi. “We always ran into the hot team.”

In four seasons, McIlwain never missed a start, leading the Indians to a 25-18 record. He threw for 6,545 yards and 54 touchdowns and ran for 3,882 yards and 70 scores.  

“He’s the best QB I’ve seen by far,” said Collachi. 

“To not miss one game, that’s pretty impressive because he was injured a lot,” said Closser. “He had a torn ligament in his thumb his whole freshman season. He sprained his MCL as a junior and then the shoulder sprain and broken thumb as a senior.”    

The Future

McIlwain has options. He will play football and baseball at South Carolina and pursue a joint JD and MBA degree.  

Baseball Americaranked McIlwain 16th on its list of high school seniors. He is also projected to be a first or second round pick in June’s Major League Draft. 

If sports do not work out, McIlwain can always fall back on Roddy’s original plan.

“He wants to be Commissioner of the NFL,” said Roddy. “He knows he’ll be associated with football whether he plays it or not.” 

Football is his top choice, and McIlwain stayed committed to South Carolina even after Steve Spurrier resigned in October.

“That’s how college coaching is,” said McIlwain. “People told me not to pick a school based on coaches.”

McIlwain has a relationship with new SC coach Will Muschamp, who coached at Florida from 2011-’14 and originally recruited McIlwain to be a Gator.  

The reasons were also familial and academic. 

McIlwain’s grandmothers both live near the school. One lives 10 minutes from campus and the other lives an hour and a half away.  

SC also has a program where Brandon can earn his joint degree in seven years.

Most of the McIlwainites think Brandon will have to go back to school to finish that degree. 

“NFL. No doubt,” said Hewitt. “He has traits that scream professional. And he’s a first round talent. Some guys will say he’s only six-feet tall. But Johnny Manziel was a first round pick. Michael Vick was a first round pick.”  

“It’s just a matter of having the right people around him,” Hebron said. “Hopefully he’s going into the right situation in South Carolina and they will surround him with the right coaches and the right information. Cause he will do the work. He will do the work.”

“When he was an eighth grader, I remember talking to a few coaches. ‘This kid’s going to be a player somewhere at some point,’” said Carr. “My expectation was he’s going to be able to write his own ticket somewhere.”

“If he wants to play on Sundays, he’ll make it happen,” said Collachi. “I look forward to seeing him out there.”

Roddy and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer agree with Hewitt, Hebron, Carr, and Collachi. But they would not be surprised if McIlwain became the next Barack Obama, instead of Russell Wilson. 

“Google Brandon from the Elite 11 football camp and Trent Dilfer,” said Roddy. “Dilfer said, ‘This kid could be a second baseman in the MLB or a QB in the NFL and successful in those things, but he’ll be equally successful as a State Senator or President.’ Others are recognizing it already. It’s not just me as a prideful father.”