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After sending a 47-yard field goal straight through the uprights during November's IHSA Class 7A state championship game, Wheaton Warrenville South kicker Nick Immekus had made up his mind. He didn't want the state title game -— WWS defeated Glenbard West 31-24 in double overtime — to be his last at Memorial Stadium.

So Immekus recently accepted a preferred walk-on roster spot at Illinois.

"I just saw myself there for the next four years wearing the orange and blue," Immekus said. "(The state title game) was just an unbelievable feeling. It wasn't close to the amount of people that will be there on Saturdays, but it was just a great feeling to be out there playing on the field. Hopefully, I can come in there right away and get going with it."

Immekus, a 6-foot, 230-pound senior who also started at guard for WWS, likely will enroll at the UI during the summer and compete with juniors Matt Eller and Derek Dimke, both scholarship players, for playing time. Immekus turned down scholarship offers from Illinois State and Eastern Illinois to play at UI.

"I got offers from a couple smaller schools, but it just wasn't the level of football I wanted and that I thought I could compete at," Immekus said. "When I got offered a preferred walk-on spot, that was really a big deal for me. To play in the Big Ten, to play in Memorial Stadium is just an unbelievable feeling."

Immekus made 10 of 12 field goals last season, missing 52- and 30-yard attempts and 65 of 69 on extra points. He converted on three 47-yard attempts. He was 8 of 9 within 40 yards. Immekus also is a strong place kicker, forcing touchbacks on 70 of 80 kickoffs. He also averaged 37.0 yards on punts.

"What he did for us at Wheaton Warrenville South the last two years affects the game outcome in a variety of ways that only a football fan could understand," WWS coach Ron Muhitch said.

"He has a great anticipation for the moment in the game when the game's on the line. He understands that moment and he wants that moment. He literally convinced me a couple times to go for a kick which is hard for me to admit to because you always want to run one more play to try and get the seven than the three. ...I've not had a kid do that, and I think that's the difference between him and a lot of kickers."

Immekus, who played soccer for 12 years before giving football a try as a freshman, won't be like many kickers who keep to themselves during practices and games. The former lineman emphasizes that he's not just a specialist.

"I'm going to see if I can step into sometimes on some individual drills and fool around at some positions to get some hitting in just so I can get back to my old self at high school," Immekus said, "show people I'm a football player"