Now in his third season, can Turner get Belleville West back to the playoffs?
Belleville West’s football team has one goal as the 2025 season approaches: Qualify for the IHSA Class 7A postseason.
With a veteran roster — headlined by University of Illinois recruit Nick Hankins Jr. — the Maroons may have the ideal blend of ingredients to break a playoff drought that stretches back to 2018.
“As a team, we want to make the playoffs … and not just make the playoffs but make a deep run,” said Hankins Jr., a senior who committed to Illinois earlier this summer. “We haven’t made it to the playoffs in a while. That’s the main goal and the only goal to be honest.”
Third-year Maroons coach Ken Turner affirmed Hankins’s remarks.
West finished 3-6 in 2024, but only close losses to O’Fallon (18-15) and Vianney (35-27) prevented the team from qualifying for the playoffs.
“We felt last year we fell short of where we should have been,” said Turner, who previously had successful stints as the head football coach at both Althoff and St. Mary’s (Missouri). “We have a lot of guys back — a lot of guys back in the skilled positions and the right positions. We want to make the playoffs. We want to change it and hopefully those close losses will be wins this year.”
Familiarity breeds success
Turner said he feels great about the program’s trajectory. Specifically, he noted the importance of the players’ familiarity with him and vice versa.
“We’re progressing,” he said. “My first year, we got blown out in almost every game. Last year, we competed, and we competed with most everybody. We have a lot of guys who played that first year and then the second year. They know what we’re running on offense and defense and understand what we need and want on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve got guys who have been around with me for three years and understand what I want and they know what I want. We should be better, and we will be better.”
Turner outlined a critical component to the aforementioned awareness between player and coach.
“It helps them because they can just go out and play, and they don’t have to think,” he said. “A lot of times you’re playing and thinking, but now they’ll be faster because they don’t have to be thinking. They know what we want, they know what I want. That’s the No. 1 thing.”
Junior quarterback Caiden Capell backed his coach’s assessment.
“He has confidence in you and you’re able to play more freely,” Capell noted. “When you play more freely, you play faster, with less to worry about — other than what the goal is.”
SCOUTING THE MAROONS
On offense, Turner’s team again will feature a spread formation with equal emphasis on running and passing.
“If the defense takes away the pass, we’ll run the ball. If the defense takes away the run, we’re going to pass the ball. We’ll take what they give us. We’re fortunate to be able to both run the ball and pass the ball,” he said.
Hankins Jr., a wide receiver, and Capell will help anchor the offense. Hankins enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2024, grabbing 27 passes for 622 yards and five touchdowns, while rushing for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. Capell, meanwhile, completed 28 passes for 419 yards and 4 touchdowns and also rushed 370 yards and three touchdowns on 53 carries.
Senior running back Isaiah Williams headlines what should be a strong rushing attack for West. As a junior, Williams ran for 658 yards and four touchdowns on 82 carries, good for an 8-yards-per-carry average.
Other key returnees on offense include Mike Bell (center, senior); Jordan Brewer (right tackle, senior); CJ Dawson (left tackle, junior); and Dewonde Taylor (running back, junior).
Defensively, Turner said the Maroons’ focus is on speed.
“We want to be fast on defense, have speed and play to the football,” he said. “Playing fast, playing fast, and playing fast — that’s what we want to do.”
Highlighting West’s defense are Kevin Stallings (defensive tackle, senior); Chase Strickland (defensive tackle, senior); Jeremiah Ward (defensive end, senior); Dareon Willis (linebacker, senior); Hankins Jr. (defensive back/cornerback; 4 interceptions in 2024); Capell (safety; 52 tackles in 2024); Freddie Perry (safety, senior); and CJ Cutler-Johnson (safety, senior).
“We had a good offseason this summer. We had some ups and downs, but more better than down. We want to get better and get better every day. That’s our goal,” Turner said.
SEASON OPENER, SOUTHWESTERN CONFERENCE
West opens the season at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, at home against Mascoutah. In Turner’s first game at West in 2023, the Maroons defeated the Indians 33-28, but then lost 34-21 last season. West hopes to make a statement in Game 1, Hankins said.
“We’ve been working hard all summer,” Hankins Jr. said. “We want to show what we can do and what we’ve been doing all summer, especially with it being a home game. We want to show it to our home crowd.”
Mascoutah finished 4-5 in 2024, and Turner again expects a tough contest.
“They run a good offense and defense. Their quarterback is the coach’s son, so he, of course, knows his dad’s offense,” Turner said. “The way they play keeps us ready for the teams we’ll face after that. I expect us to play how we played the last two times against them and try not to make first-game mistakes. It’s just the first game, but we want to alleviate the first-game mistakes and see how we do.”
Turner also looks forward to another year of competing in the Southwestern Conference. The Maroons posted one conference win each of the past two seasons; however, showed incremental improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 competing in league action.
“I love playing against those teams,” Turner said. “We’re getting better each year and we’ll be better this year and look forward to playing all those teams and competing against those guys. We’re getting closer and closer.”
PRAISE FOR HANKINS JR.
As noted, Hankins Jr. earlier this summer selected the University of Illinois to continue his football career. He is a 4-star recruit and a key piece to the Illini’s highly-regarded recruiting class.
“I’m very proud of him,” Turner said. “I’m especially proud, because in the state we were in, we were able to get him out there. It’s kind of hard to do that when you’re losing like we were losing, and it shows how good he is. He showed himself and this last year he was outstanding.
“I’m glad he chose Illinois, but I would have been happy with whoever he chose.
According to 247 Sports’ composite ranking, Hankins Jr. is a top-10 prospect in the state and a top-30 cornerback nationally. He ultimately selected Illinois over Iowa, Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
“I’m really excited to go to Illinois. It’s everybody’s dream to go play in college and play for your home state,” he said. “Honestly, it’s more of a shocking thing to me knowing my hard work paid off.
Added Turner, “I’m proud of him and everybody. But he’s got to lead us this year. And that’s what he’s going to do and get us over the top.”
Hankins Jr. eagerly accepts that challenge.
“I’ll probably be more vocal and help guys out during the game if KT (Turner) can’t help out,” he said. “I will try to do the things I know KT can’t do from the sideline — only things the players can see from the field.”
READY TO MAKE A STATEMENT
With the season rapidly approaching, Capell reiterated the team’s hopes of breaking the program’s playoffless streak.
“My main goal is to make the playoffs and not just to make it but to make a statement in the playoffs,” he said. “Every game we can dominate, we need to dominate and play with passion and compete seriously.”
Capell said playing smarter and with more energy is paramount for the Maroons’ postseason hopes to become reality.
“I’m pretty sure in the O’Fallon game last year, we had a couple of big plays called back because of dumb penalties,” he said. “We had to have more energy all the time in the close games we lost. I feel the energy wasn’t there from the get go in those games.
“We need to show out and compete every day at practice — showing out and showing up and also putting in the work.”