"Jo Knows": The Future of High School Football in the Chicago Catholic League

In this special edition of THE Varsity Voices Podcast, we flip the script for a brand-new segment: Jo Knows.
Instead of asking the questions, Joe is in the hot seat as co-host Dan leads a wide-ranging conversation about the present and future of high school football — with a deep focus on the Chicago Catholic League and the changing landscape of Illinois high school sports.

This episode dives into the biggest shifts impacting the game today, including:

• The evolution of high school football culture

• Transfer trends and competitive balance

• NIL and athlete branding at the high school level

• The impact of IHSA playoff expansion

• The changing offseason calendar and training structure

• What great programs consistently do differently

• Surprise division contenders in the new CCL alignment

• The difference between high school football then and now

• And what the future of high school sports may look like

This isn’t hot-take sports talk — it’s real perspective, real experience, and real conversation about where high school athletics are headed and why it matters to athletes, parents, coaches, and communities.

🎙 This is Jo Knows — only on THE Varsity Voices Podcast.