Glenbrook North two-way lineman Dimitrije Milutinovic, seen here in action last fall, figures to be in the middle of the action in Friday night’s season opener against Wheeling. Photography by Joel Lerner
Dimitrije Milutinovic stands near midfield after a preseason football practice. The sky above the Glenbrook North High School field is cloudless, the conditions milder than they had been for most of a steamy summer. Milutinovic is a 6-foot-2, 260-pound defensive lineman/offensive lineman, his height and weight taller and heftier than they had been (6-1, 235) last fall.
To the right of Milutinovic, a senior, stands Gabriel Rendon, another Spartans senior, another defensive lineman/offensive lineman.
“Dimitrije is in better shape this year,” Rendon says of the 2014 All-Central Suburban League North pick. “He’s gotten stronger.”
Milutinovic, slightly embarrassed and quite appreciative, smiles, turns to his classmate and says, “Thanks … where can I buy you dinner?”
Milutinovic did not just get bigger, stronger and fitter in the offseason. He also got faster, lowering his time in the 40-yard dash from 5.2 seconds to 4.9. His work ethic mirrors that of a construction worker moonlighting as a miner three days a week and as a lumberjack on the other four days. His blue collar is not blue. Its hue is closer to a navy blue, a sweat-soaked blue. Glenbrook North’s football season ended on a Friday night last year. In a weight room, three days later, Milutinovic started his offseason regimen.
“To play college football, that’s my dream, my thing,” Milutinovic, the brother of two college water polo players (brother Gojko and sister Vladislava, athletes at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri), says. “I want to play at the next level.”
Spartans coach Bob Pieper changed Glenbrook’s North defensive scheme. Don’t look for Milutinovic, a third-year varsity member, to rush passers and stop runs from a defensive end slot, his position in ’14, when he finished with 53 tackles (18 solo), two sacks, two tackles for loss and a team-high two forced fumbles (with one fumble recovery). He will line up on defense as a tackle this year.
“It’s why I thickened up in the offseason,” Milutinovic, one of four captains, says. “I had to bulk up to play in the middle. I wanted to bulk up.”
Milutinovic gets to clash with, and erase, opposing DTs from his spot along the offensive line. That must excite Glenbrook North senior running back John Clark, another captain and another returning All-CSL North selection. Milutinovic and other trench men helped Clark rush for 1,046 yards and 15 touchdowns a year ago. Clark averaged 8.5 yards per carry. Eight. Point. Five.
Four and five, though, are on the minds of Glenbrook North’s coaches and players. They’re middling numbers, frustrating figures. Four and five. They represented North’s number of wins and losses, respectively, in ’14, a year after North had qualified for the Class 7A playoffs with a 6-3 record.
“We wanted to play again the next week,” Pieper says of the varsity’s mindset after host Glenbrook North lost 34-33 to CSL North champion Highland Park in a regular-season finale on Oct. 24. The setback kept North out of the playoffs. It also moved Milutinovic to hit the weight room, to pump, pump, pump. And pump some more. Spartans joined Milutinovic, a leader, a serious teammate and a fun guy to be around.
“Dimitrije did not miss one workout session in the offseason,” Pieper says. “Not one. He could have; there were days when he was feeling sick. He showed up at all of them. He’s got a goal, a mission — to play college football. He’s a great teammate, a team-above-self guy, and he’s very respectful, a ‘Yes, sir’ kid. He’s got a great sense of humor, too. He knows when to be serious, and he knows when to joke around. Dimitrije has been around the program long enough to know exactly when the time is right to joke around.”
There might not be a teen in Cook County who values his family members as much as Dimitrije Milutinovic does. He is proud of his older brother. He is proud of his older sister. The son of a Serbian father, Milutinovic enjoys inhaling Serbian sausages almost as much as he enjoys interacting with his parents. His grandmother, Louise — “My baba,” the grandson, smiling broadly, says — prepares a mean Serbian sausage. Louise, born in Germany, emigrated to the United States in the 1950s.
Milutinovic and Rendon have known each other since the fifth grade, good buddies and gritty gridders. Asked to size up his big mate standing next to him following the preseason practice on that pleasant day, Rendon glances to his left, turns his head to face the inquisitor again and shares some thoughts.
“Dimitrije … he’s the only kid that I have ever truly feared in football,” Rendon says. “He’s got everything … everything going for him, a lot of strengths. Great guy, great leader. If guys happen to get in a little skirmish at one of our practices, he’s there to break it up. He keeps the team together. That’s leadership. That’s what a leader does. That’s what Dimitrije does.”
Notable: Glenbrook North hosts Wheeling High School (3-6 in 2014) in a season opener on Aug. 28, beginning at 7 p.m. … Glenbrook North (4-5) finished in a tie for second place in the CSL North with a 3-2 division mark last fall. The Spartans averaged 32 points to their opponents’ 26 in ’14. … The team’s other two senior captains in 2015 are wideout Mitch Schermerhorn and Drew Moran, listed as a quarterback/linebacker last year. Schermerhorn earned All-CSL North status in ’14 after coming down with 22 receptions for 373 yards (team-best 16.95 yards per catch). … Glenbrook North’s only day game of the season is its CSL crossover at Waukegan on Sept. 19. … Glenbrook North football teams are 320-240-7 (.564) since the start of the 1953 season, according to the Illinois High School Association website. The school went 5-2-1 under coach Walt Sherman in ’53 and won the 1974 Class 5A state championship under coach Harold Samorian. The ’74 squad finished 12-0.