trosenau@nujournal.com

NEW ULM — Senior Joe Gillis is a young man of many athletic talents at New Ulm Cathedral High School, but at the end of the day those athletic talents take a back seat to his physicality.

Gillis has more high school sports in mind yet, but his love lies on the gridiron and his next journey is on the horizon as he recently signed his Letter of Intent to play college football for the Dakota State Trojans in Madison, South Dakota.

Gillis, the 2024 All-Journal Football Defensive Player of the Year and middle linebacker that amassed a school record 421 1/2 tackles during his prep varsity career, didn’t know of Dakota State at first.

Submitted photo New Ulm Cathedral's Joe Gillis, sitting, signd his Letter of Intent recently to play college football at Dakota State in South Dakota next season.

“I had never heard of Dakota State at all until Christmas time, early December maybe,” Gillis said. “They reached out, I got a text from the coach that he had seen some film and asked me if I wanted to go play some college football. Obviously I told him yes … right before I went for a visit, they shot me an offer. I got there on my visit, I like the coaches a lot, I’ve had some phone calls with them.”

Gillis said he met with Anvil Sinsabaugh, the Trojans’ linebackers coach, who really helped Gillis’ decision easier.

“The linebackers coach, coach Sinsabaugh, is the one that I met,” Gillis said. “He gave me a personal tour the weekend before Christmas. So I went up with no students on campus or anything, and he walked me along there and I got to meet some of the other coaching staff and we clicked pretty well.”

The Trojans, who compete as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics program, finished 6-4 overall last season and allowed 15.8 points per game.

“Their scheme really fit my play style a lot,” Gillis said. “They like to rely on their linebackers a lot to make tackles and run across the field side to side. They told me they wanted to see me compete for a spot my freshman year and hopefully starting by my sophomore. So they kind of got me in with that, but their scheme really just fits my play style a lot. They like to keep their linebackers free and just flow and find the football.”

The Trojans primarily run a 4-3 defense and Gillis is looking forward to getting on the field and making hits with some of their schemes.

“They run a 4-3 defense and they do a little scheming and blitzing with the middle linebacker, which is good for me because I don’t like to go into coverage too much, I just like to go hit,” Gillis said.

Gillis was a wanted man on the football field by several colleges, but Dakota State’s coaching staff and scholarship offer helped Gillis make his final decision.

“I actually had an offer from UMary, as well as Dordt, St. John’s and Concordia-St. Paul, and I took visits to St. John’s and UMary, and Dordt as well I took a visit to,” Gillis said. “I liked all of them, but the coaches at Dakota State when I went to my visit there, I liked it a lot as well and the price at Dakota State, we got it down pretty good financially and they gave me a good scholarship offer.”

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound linebacker said he’s looking to add some more weight to his frame in college to further help his football career.

“I’m going to have to get bigger, they’re going to want me to put some weight on, which isn’t a bad thing at all, I’d love to get bigger and stronger,” Gillis said. “I want to get faster, just increase my speed out there because the game’s going to come a lot faster at a higher level, so hopefully we’ll be able to develop that.

“Their facilities … they just redid them. They’ve got a brand new stadium, it’s pretty sweet, and their weight room is very large and super nice. At Cathedral, we’ve got a nice weight room that we like to put into work, but it’s a little older.”

Until then, Gillis is currently the muscle for the Greyhounds boys basketball team after taking a year off of basketball. He said he told the players he’d join the basketball team again if the Greyhounds won a football playoff game in 2024.

“I enjoy the competitive nature of the game [in basketball], but I don’t get to do too much on the court that I get to do in football,” Gillis said. “But this year in the football season, I told my teammates that if we won a playoff game that I’d play basketball this year with them. We ended up winning two and losing in the section championship, so I had to keep going on my deal I made with them.”

Gillis said he’s interested in playing golf this spring for Cathedral also but is excited to continue his football career. He hasn’t committed to a major quite yet, but Gillis has interest in studying in athletic training or business.