Plainfield Central QB Tommy Morrisette ready to take the next step in junior year

Plainfield Central QB Tommy Morrisette is ready to take a big step in year two as the starter.

There’s no hiding that Plainfield Central struggled last season on the gridiron. The team went just 2-7 as its rebuild continues. However, 2025 was still an improvement over 2024 and with head coach Robby Carriger’s staff entering year three, the expectation is the Wildcats will be better again in 2026.

A big key to that success will, as is usually the case, come down to the quarterback. The Wildcats have an experienced one of those to build around. Junior Tommy Morrisette is back for his second season as the starter for Plainfield Central.

He’s grown two inches and added about five pounds of muscle since the end of last year, providing the Wildcats hope that his game will grow as his body has. He believes that his mind has grown as much as his height and weight have this summer. “I think I’m much stronger on the mental side of things,” Morrisette said.

“I’m much more comfortable, I know how to read a defense better, what reads to make. On the physical side I’m much stronger and always progressing while never plateauing.” Morrisette is quite young for his grade.

He didn’t turn 16 until the end of the 2025-26 school year. His youth and lack of experience showed at times last season as he finished with just one touchdown to 11 interceptions. There were signs of progress as the year went on, however.

He led the Wildcats to a revenge victory over Joliet Central last year following a loss to the Steelmen in 2024. Morrisette also showed mobility, finishing as the Wildcats’ second leading rusher with 173 yards and three scores, including 108 yards against Joliet Central. The 6-foot-2, 180 pound signal caller isn’t focused so much on improving his stat line, however, as much as he is on making Plainfield Central a winning program again.

“I want to make my teammates around me better,” Morrisette said. “I’m always going to keep a positive attitude. Just yelling at someone isn’t going to help them.

If they make a mistake, yelling isn’t going to fix it. I want to let them know to have a goldfish mindset and look forward to the next opportunity.” To that end, he feels the squad is heading in the right direction.

“I think that we’ve progressed so much more (this summer) than the last two years as a team,” Morrisette said. “Not only skill wise, we’re more together and disciplined. We’ve developed more of a friendship and a brotherhood and everything is really good.

I think we have a lot of potential this year.” Carriger praised his young quarterback’s progression and leadership, saying he’s acted as another coach on the field. “He’s gotten bigger, gotten stronger and gotten faster, which is always good,” Carriger said.

“In terms of knowledge of the offense, leadership and ability he just continues to grow. He knows this thing inside and out. He corrects me sometimes, which is good.

“His play has greatly improved since the beginning of last year, so hopefully that continues to happen and by Aug, 21 he’s in a good spot.” It’s been four years since the Wildcats made the postseason and with a first round playoff exit they finished that year at 5-5. They won eight games the year before, however, and the hope around campus is that the team is closer to those good old days than outsiders may think.

Count Morrisette among those who believe. “I think we’re going to get a lot more wins this year,” Morrisette said. “We’re going to play a lot better and put a lot more points on the board.

We’re going to get put on the map.”