LeBlond’s Icke, Winkelbauer headed to play college football
Two Bishop LeBlond football players will take the leap to the next level after signing their National Letters of Intent on Monday.
Seniors Trey Icke and Jacob Winkelbauer are taking separate paths to play college football at the Division II level, while still staying close to home. Icke signed his NLI to play football at Missouri Western and Winkelbauer signed to play football at Benedictine, an NAIA power that recently fell in the NAIA Football Championship Series semifinals. For Winkelbauer, he feels it may only be the beginning for the Ravens football team.
“I think they have a good culture there, good staff and the players, they liked it. They all looked like they bought into the program and I think they're going places in a few years,” Winkelbauer said.
It’ll be a short trek for Icke as he’ll take his talents just down the road from LeBlond to Missouri Western. When asked the selling point for Icke that made Western, he points out the interactions he had with those in the building, particularly assistant coach Colin McQuillan and director of sports performance Dr. Zach Fears.
“He just like tops it off and it was just, I had to go after talking to him,” Icke said about Fears.
The two seniors will make the rare jump from 8-man high school to 11-man college football. Both Icke and Winkelbauer don’t feel apprehension about making the transition when asked about it on Monday.
“It’s gonna be different, but not too much I don’t think,” Winkelbauer said. “We run a lot of the 11-man schemes in our 8-man game, so I think it won’t be too hard.”
Both seniors were named 8-man first team all-state selections this past season. Icke made the first team offense as a wide receiver, and Winkelbauer was a first team all-state defensive end.
