Will Verber is back, and it’s no coincidence that Grayslake North is winning again.

Verber missed all but the first 30 minutes of last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee during the Knights’ opener.

“There are certain players that raise the bar, and Will does that,” Grayslake North coach Adam DeCaluwe said. “He brings composure and a winning mentality for us.”

Verber, a senior midfielder and captain, returned to the field one year later for the season-opening victory against Harvard on Aug. 22, and not even three weeks later the Knights (6-3) had already doubled their 2022 win total.

“I was so happy to be back,” Verber said. “I was a little nervous, but I was more happy than nervous.”

Verber, who has two assists this season, and DeCaluwe estimate that Verber’s left knee is roughly 90% healthy.

“It’s such a relief to have him back,” DeCaluwe said. “We weren’t trying to fill in for him anymore. Instead, it was, ‘We got Will again. We’re good.’”

Verber’s elite leadership is shining through again.

“He’s a natural leader,” Grayslake North assistant Alex McKenzie said. “He has a tenacious side to him. When he speaks, people listen. I don’t think even he realizes what he brings to the team.”

The Knights do, and they know what they were missing after Verber went down on Aug. 23, 2022.

An opposing player had been tugging at Verber’s back, he recalled, and he struggled to maintain his balance. As Verber maneuvered his body, his left knee gave out.

“I was like, ‘Oh, man, I can’t believe this happened,’” Verber said. “It was severe pain.”

Verber knew it instantly: He had torn the ACL in his left knee.

“Will is never one to pull himself out of a game,” DeCaluwe said. “But you could tell he was in severe pain. Something wasn’t right.”

The Knights struggled without Verber. They finished 3-13-2.

“We immediately took more than a couple of steps back,” DeCaluwe said. “We lost one of our most impactful, physical, aggressive and levelheaded players. He’s a rock, and we were really excited to lean on that before the ACL gave way.”

Verber had surgery a few weeks later and then began to toil away at rehab three times per week.

“Rehab tired me out so much,” he said. “I knew that had to be done to get back to playing. It was hard. It hurt me a lot mentally too. I’m never one to give up. So I was trying to push through the pain so that I could play again.”

The Knights felt Verber’s absence from the field immediately.

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“The kids recognize how much Will matters to us,” DeCaluwe said. “It really hurt us. Emotionally, it was a difficult thing to go through. Whatever chance he had, he was there contributing. That’s why the kids voted him as a captain.”

Verber maintained a sideline presence at games and practices.

“I really wanted to be out there playing with them,” he said. “It hurt mentally to not play.”

The rehab process paid off for Verber, although he knows the injury might have affected his goal of playing soccer in college.

“Unfortunately, the injury set me back a full year,” he said. “I still have my passion and my love for the sport.

“But it feels great being back. All I want to do is play.”

Sam Brief is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.