51ºÚÁÏ

Jonathan Rulo just needed a little motivation to bring football into his life.

It came in the form of some fast food delights.

At age 5, Rulo, now a senior at Belleville East High and one of the top defensive linemen in the state of Illinois, had zero interest in football.

Rulo loved wrestling. Just wrestling and nothing else.

"Never even considered trying football," Rulo recalled.

Rulo was a standout grappler in the Jackie Joyner Kersee Center youth system and a very good one. Even at a tender age, he felt like his athletic future was on the mat.

Enter JJK football coach Darion Phiffer, who made a deal with Rulo.

"He was always trying to get me to go out for football and I wanted no part of it," Rulo recalled. "Then one day, he told me if I just came out and gave football a try, he'd give me a week's worth of (meals) at McDonald's."

Like most youngsters, seven successive days of McDonald's was a tough offer to pass up.

"He always loved his burgers," said Rulo's mom, Stephanie.

Rulo needed just a couple days of football practice to change his mind.

"Just fell in love with it right away," Rulo said.

Rulo's love has morphed into a career.

The 6-foot-2, 290-pounder has given a verbal commitment to attend the University of Cincinnati. He chose the Bearcats over a dozen offers including two from Iowa and Kansas State.

Rulo is the No. 5 recruit on the Post-Dispatch Super 30 countdown of the area’s top senior college football prospects.

The hulking nose tackle has a high upside and he expects to be playing on Sundays sometime down the road.

And it all started with sacks of fast food.

"I ate McDonald's for a whole week," Rulo said. "A lot of happy meals."

Rulo remains grateful to Pfeiffer, who is on the coaching staff at Cahokia High.

"To this day, I really thank him for getting me to play the sport," Rulo said.

Actually, Rulo never gave up wrestling and claimed the IHSA Class 3A heavyweight championship in February with a 35-0 record.

Rulo was offered NCAA Division I scholarships in wrestling as well.

A four-year regular, he is a wrecking crew on both sides of the ball. He starts on the offensive line as well.

But he simply loves blowing up plays with his quickness and tenacity on defense.

"He's got that rare combination of size and strength," Belleville East football coach Michael Harrison said. "And he plays with such speed. To have all of those unique traits and be physical is extremely rare."

Harrison took one glance at Rulo as a freshman and knew the newbie was something special.

"Normally you look at a kid and find out that even though he's good, he needs to work on one special area," Harrison said. "Not Jonathan. Ever since he entered high school, he's been the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, the quickest. And he has that intrinsic motivation that he pushes himself and keeps striving to be the best."

Rulo has wreaked havoc among Southwestern Conference offenses the past two seasons with 91 tackles, including a whopping 33 for losses. He has 10 sacks.

Some of Rulo's defensive plays have become legendary. Last season, he picked up an Althoff ball carrier in the backfield and simply held him aloft until the referee blew the whistle. Rulo then gently eased the running back to the turf.

Rulo likes to save his best for big games. He recorded a season-best seven solo tackles, five for losses, in a setback last year against East 51ºÚÁÏ, which went on the claim the Class 6A state championship.

Ironically, Rulo was not that big at birth, weighing just six pounds. His older sister Keely weighed nine pounds and younger brother Carter clocked in at eight.

But Rulo began to grow quickly at age 2 and was the biggest in his class all the way through junior high.

"Once he started getting up there, he just kept getting bigger and bigger," Stephanie said.

Rulo helped the Lancers reach postseason play for the third year in a row last season. He said the goal this year is to help the Lancers win "three or four" playoff games.

A gentle giant, Rulo has his sights set on back-to-back unbeaten state wrestling titles, too. He still has a soft spot in his heart for wrestling and wishes he could do both in college.

Yet he remains focused on becoming a future defensive force in the Big 12 Conference.

"The ultimate goal is to keep getting better and see where that takes me," Rulo said.