3 Orland Park Athletes Playing in College Football Bowls

By Michael Sewall and Ben Feldheim

At least three local athletes will represent Orland Park during the upcoming college football bowl games.

Michigan senior right tackle Michael Schofield, a Carl Sandburg High School graduate, will be with the Wolverines as they face Kansas State 9:15 p.m. Saturday for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Northern Illinois junior long snapper Brian Mayer, also a Sandburg alum, will join his fellow Huskies as they take on Utah State in the Poinsettia Bowl 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Boston College offensive lineman Dan Lembke, a Providence grad, joins the Eagles as they face Arizona in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31.

Including Mayer, the Huskies have 20 area athletes on the roster, plus a bunch more from non-Patch towns. Mount Greenwood native Jordan Lynch, who was named a Heisman Trophy finalist, easily had the best season of the bunch, leading the Huskies to a 12-1 record with 4,557 total yards and 45 touchdowns as a passing and rushing threat.

There’s a lot of Big Ten representation as well, with other local athletes on the roster for Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Perhaps not surprisingly, 2012 Class 7A state champion Glenbard West has the most guys (six) on the list. Six athletes from Naperville are also on the list, with each one having attended a different high school.

And New Lenox native Jake Lembke, who attended Providence Catholic, is part of a team in the biggest game. He’s a deep snapper for the Auburn Tigers, who will play in the BCS National Championship against the undefeated and No. 1-ranked Florida State Seminoles.

See the full 2013-14 college football bowl schedule on ESPN.com.

Check out a list of local athletes playing in the bowl games.

Student-athletes featured in this article are from Patch towns or attended high schools in Patch towns, not all Chicago-area student-athletes. The sources used are the university athletics websites. If we missed anyone, give them a shoutout in the comments. 

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