Mike Baker is a senior kicker, punter and wide receiver for the Ramblers. He was recently named to the Class 8A All-State team by the Illinois High School Coaches Association.

1. Do you could have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

I do. It’s plenty of little things. I wear the identical undershirt — a cut-off shirt — then the identical shirt over that. Same shorts, same all the pieces. I take heed to the identical songs in the identical order for the last 20 minutes, or at the very least this season I even have. Numerous little things like that.

2. How is college recruiting process going?

It’s going pretty much. This summer I did plenty of visits and I’ve liked plenty of the colleges, but with the transfer portal, it is difficult to inform who (the colleges) are going to get and when. So plenty of schools, I’m waiting to see what they will do. I keep specializing in the season and hope things play out in an excellent way.

3. What’s your dream job?

I might should say I would love to be a boss of something and would love to be very hands on, like an engineer. I like solving things and coming up with solutions to problems, and I like constructing. I don’t have anything in mind, but I do plenty of work now like lawn mowing, moving and woodworking. I’m into that form of stuff. I like grinding and getting stuff done.

4. When did you already know you were an excellent kicker?

I might say my dad (Dan) is a kicker, he kicked at (the University of Missouri) and I even have two brothers, one who’s a yr older (Jack) and one who’s five years older (Danny Jr.), who’s a senior Dayton and plays football there. H kicked until his senior yr in highschool. He was really good, but he loved hitting and playing safety. He played safety at Lake Forest College and transferred to Dayton and picked up kicking again. Moral of the story, I kicked all my life and have grown up around it. Every grade school team that has a kicker thinks that child is nice because they don’t see kickers. So naturally I believed I used to be an excellent kicker, but once I went and competed nationally, especially this summer, I noticed how good I used to be. It was eye opening. That was a fairly cool feeling.

5. Who’s your favorite athlete?

I even have so many. I’m going to go together with Austin Ekeler (NFL — Los Angeles Chargers). He’s like 5-9 and among the finest running backs within the league. I feel that’s so sweet. I could also say Cody Schrader from Mizzou. Each are only short guys which are identical to workhorses, who work really hard and are good people off the sphere. It’s an underdog thing.

6. What’s your favorite sports moment up to now?

I might say my (65-yard receiving) touchdown against Mount Carmel. I might say that. That was a dream come true.

7. If you happen to needed to take heed to one song the remaining of your life, what would it not be?

“May We All” by Florida Georgia line. I don’t know. I just adore it. That or “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue” (Toby Keith). They simply make me feel really good, really excited, plenty of different emotions.

8. If you happen to’re in Walgreens with a pair bucks, what are you purchasing?

Gallon of water and Starburst Minis all pink.

9. What’s something people don’t find out about you?

Numerous people don’t know that I play receiver as well. Possibly that I play hockey. Or that I’m superb at ping-pong and chess. I really like chess. I’m pretty good (at ping-pong) I played against some guys on ping-pong team and I beat them. We play ping-pong at team dinners and I play against like 10 guys and win each time.

10. What makes Loyola Academy football so special and dominant?

The coaches. one hundred pc. The actual fact we’ve been going after this since June 10. We’ve been five hours a day, six hours a day since June 10 and these guys are working full-time jobs. We got out at 7:15 p.m. tonight and that’s just something you don’t get anywhere else. Every coach across the board is watching tow hours of film every night to arrange for one team. It’s truly mind-boggling to me. My wide receivers coach (Patrick Naughton) watches 24 hours of film per week. It’s unreal. So it’s one hundred pc coaches who make it. They usually are great people and really do care about making us good young men and other people. And likewise the scout teams; that’s one other one. They’re the backbone of Loyola football. Without them, we don’t get an excellent look.

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