Giving 100%: Tucker Denais moving from fullback to wing for North Vermilion football team this fall

MAURICE — The North Vermilion Patriots made a surprise run to the non-select Division II state quarterfinals in 2022, and senior Tucker Denais hopes to help the Patriots match or exceed that outcome in 2023.
Denais is moving from fullback to the wing in North Vermilion’s wing-T offense under first-year head coach Joe Heintz. That move brings a shift in his role with the offense, Denais said.
“Last year I played fullback, and my main role was to get three to four yards a play,” he said. “I was more of a power guy.
“This year I moved to the outside, to the wing, and I can do more — play receiver a little bit, catch the ball, still run the ball but more on sweeps. So it’s more one-on-one with a DB, so it’s not as difficult for me. I can use more of my abilities, and not just power.”
Heintz said the move was made to help find ways to get Denais the ball, and get him the ball in space.
“He had a great season last year at fullback,” Heintz said. “I think he’s going to be utilized more in the wing position and in the slot position. We’ll still be able to move him to the fullback position if we need to.
“He’s dynamic on offense for us. He’s very versatile. We can do different things with him. The position that he’s playing now he’s going to get the ball running the football, he’ll catch it a few times in the passing game. We are going to find creative ways to get him the ball.”
The Patriots’ district schedule prepared the team for the postseason, and with teams like St. Thomas More, Westgate, Lafayette Christian and Teurlings Catholic on the district schedule again, that should be the case once more.
“We had a tougher district, and that helped us come together as a team and play better, playing those harder teams in district,” Denais said. “We knew we weren’t going to be playing (that caliber of team) in our bracket in the playoffs.”
Heintz has brought a different kind of energy to practice, Denais said.
“Practices are different, for sure,” the senior ballcarrier said. “He’s got us flying around more. The energy is there. I think it’s going to be better for us this year just because that energy makes a difference in the game.”
“We’ve been trying to practice at a high level,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of energy on the field at practice. I think the kids are excited.
“I think the kids are hungry. They’re working extremely hard. They just want to be successful.”
Heintz said the first week of practice, the standard that the team set in 2022 showed. Sixty to 70 players have been out every day during the summer workouts and the start of fall work, the coach said.
“They’re working hard,” he said. “We’ve only practiced four days, but you can see improvement in those four days. As a coach, that’s all you can ask from high school kids is for them to get better every day.”
Denais said he is expected to play hard and fly around on offense.
“Just get as much yards as I can at one time,” he said. “Always at a hundred percent.”
And as a senior who doesn’t plan to pursue a college athletic career, he knows it’s his final season.
“It’s my last time,” he said, adding that the seniors are doing a good job as leaders.
“We have a better connection with the underclassmen,” he said. “We grew up with a lot of them.”
“I think this senior class got a taste of going three rounds in the playoffs,” Heintz said. “There’s no gimmes on our schedule. Predistrict, district, we play a tough schedule. I know it prepared the team last year for the playoffs. They were a better team week 11 than week 1. That’s the mark of a good team. If you can see improvement from week to week, from day to day, to me, that’s what marks a good team.”