Inside the Brandsma Chapel in Mundelein, Illinois, Carmel Catholic High School’s varsity football team sits in silence. There are still more than three hours until Jason McKie’s Corsairs take the field for their penultimate home game of the 2025 season. No phones in hands. No headphones dangling from ears. Everything stays outside, leaving only the gameday Mass.
In a royal blue chair in the chapel’s corner, a man sits with his hands locked in prayer. Sunlight slips through the stained-glass windows, illuminating the verses from Isaiah and Philippians permanently inked on his forearms.
The pregame meal is next on the minute-by-minute itinerary, but for 45 minutes, at every Friday home game, the school’s on-campus priest, Father Christian Shiu, has the team’s undivided attention.
These chapel moments anchor a program that McKie has tried to reshape around servant leadership, discipline and faith. In his sixth season at Carmel, the former Chicago Bears fullback has built a culture where football comes third to faith and family—and where spiritual grounding is just as important as Friday night results.
McKie watches from a bird’s-eye vantage point in the small chapel as Fr. Shiu and the Corsairs take turns reading scripture. He silently claps with a sly smile as the team attempts to harmonize in song.
Players are given time to offer a sign of peace among themselves, just as anyone would in a Mass. Not everyone has time to hug every teammate, but every player makes sure to embrace McKie before returning to their seat.
When McKie and the players depart, their fingertips and foreheads damp from holy water, they’re reminded that this is a program built on servant leadership that extends beyond the football field.
“I want to keep our kids grounded, but I want to keep the main thing in perspective. And that’s faith,” McKie said. “Faith first, family second, then football.”
A native of Gulf Breeze, Florida, McKie appeared in 88 regular-season games over eight NFL seasons with four teams. The bulk of his career was with the Bears from 2003 to 2009. The highlight came in 2006, when he started at fullback for the NFC Championship–winning team, and played in Super Bowl XLI against the Indianapolis Colts.
McKie stayed connected to the Chicagoland area long after his playing, remaining close to the place where the most formative years of his career unfolded. In 2015, he partnered with former teammates to open All Pro Sports Performance.
The idea was simple: train and mentor youth football players and help them “Train Like a Pro.”
All Pro Sports Performance thrived, and McKie was able to put his communications degree to use on the Bears' postgame show in the years that followed. Still, there was an itch McKie couldn’t quite scratch.
The door finally opened when former Bears teammates Blake Annen, Jonny Knox, and Nathan Vasher — then coaching at a Catholic high school just 15 minutes from McKie’s home — encouraged him to join them.
McKie spent two years saying no.
He ultimately agreed to serve as the running backs coach at Carmel Catholic in 2019. It felt like a low-stakes role that didn’t demand much time.
“I was able to impact kids in high school more so than at the collegiate or NFL level,” McKie said. “And it still allowed me to do what I wanted to do in the media.”
Ahead of the final game of the 2019 season, the head coach announced he would step down and requested that athletic director Mark Pos ask McKie to serve as interim head coach.
McKie was taken aback. He was comfortable as the running backs coach and even more so without the stress of running a program. But he also recognized the opportunity he’d always wanted — and he didn’t want to let the team down.
He stepped in for the week, and the Corsairs lost a nailbiter on the road to finish a 2–8 season. With the job now open, McKie suddenly had the chance to combine his two passions: faith and coaching. After weighing the pros and cons, he applied.
He got the job in December 2019, eager to help develop boys into young men through football.
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As he settled into the role, McKie quickly learned that coaching at a private school came with unique challenges. Unlike public schools, private programs must actively seek out students within a 30-mile radius — a process some casually label as recruiting, though McKie rejects the term.
“It’s not like I can go up to a kid and say, ‘Hey, come play football for Carmel Catholic.’ Not at all,” he said. “If a kid comes in or reaches out, they take an entrance exam, here’s the tuition, here’s a financial aid form. There are a lot of hurdles.”
“I think it overshadows the development and the time that we as a staff put in with these kids.”
The path to building a formidable program has been challenging. Playing in the state’s strongest conference means having six championship-caliber teams on the schedule every year.
McKie’s first five seasons were filled with ups and downs. After a 4–10 record over his first two years, he led the program to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in 12 years.
In 2023, he added another responsibility when he became the sideline reporter for Chicago Bears radio broadcasts — a role he now balances alongside running the Carmel program.
Football packs McKie’s weeks during the fall. Whether he’s game-planning for Friday night or preparing for his next broadcast, McKie is constantly on the move. He admits that the first year was a whirlwind, but once his plan was in place, the routine became more manageable.
He doesn’t attend every Bears practice during the season, but when he does, he often brings back ideas he likes and incorporates them into his own practices later that afternoon.
“It's a blessing, especially when you love to get the football. It's not like work for me. I tell everybody, I get to do football all weekend,” McKie said. “I get to coach them on Friday, then use my communication degree on Sunday and be around the NFL, and get paid for it. It's like a dream come true.”
And those NFL relationships extend directly into his work at Carmel.
The connection McKie has built with current and former Bears players offers an opportunity to merge his two worlds.
On various days throughout the NFL season, McKie will have Bears players come up the road to train on Carmel Catholic’s football field, allowing his players to meet the athletes they watch play on Sundays.
“I tell them this, like, you guys don't understand the experience that you're getting,” McKie said. “These guys are spoiled, because not every high school program has that opportunity.”
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Trae Taylor has always been a talent that caught McKie’s attention. From learning about the middle schooler with incredible arm talent, to his shadow day at Carmel, where he got to show him around, Taylor was the perfect candidate to grow under McKie.
Despite having the raw talent to start on the varsity team, McKie used an NFL-style approach. He made Taylor wait one year behind a veteran quarterback to learn.
The year of development behind the scenes swiftly became a success story on the field for the young quarterback. In his two years as the starter, Taylor has completed 396 passes for 6,632 yards and 58 touchdown passes.
Between his sophomore and junior seasons, Taylor worked with McKie on becoming the quarterback off the field. Whether it’s during the morning lifts in the offseason or the meeting rooms in-season, McKie felt it was best for the star quarterback to learn how to be a leader.
“It's the little things,” Taylor said. “Once I get control of the team off the field, being on the field is nothing different.”
Taylor completed his recruiting process in May, committing to the University of Nebraska. That decision would not have been possible without McKie, who was there every step of the way with the family.
“I was able to sit with him, give him advice and tips to look about schools, other than, you know, besides football,” McKie said. “I've been in there with all the head coaches, coordinators that have come through school and sat with him and me, and I’ve been able to give him my honest opinion.”
With belief in his ability to read a defense and a playbook tailored for the signal caller’s strengths, McKie entrusts Taylor to call his own plays in the huddle. During the 2025 season, Taylor called 80% of the offensive plays.
The Corsair offense ran like a well-oiled machine with Taylor, averaging 45.5 points per game and over 500 yards of offense.
Taylor’s prowess on the field earned him the chance to start not just at every school in Illinois, but at programs across the country. But ahead of his senior season, Taylor stays true to his commitment to developing with someone he considers the best person for his future: McKie.
“You look at some other big-time, nationally ranked high schools, how many of those coaches have been to the NFL? How many of them have been able to play in a Super Bowl?” Taylor said. “Not a lot.
“Why not surround myself with people right now that have already done it and know what it takes to do it, and can give me information about the game of football?”
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Carmel exceeded expectations during the 2025 season, finishing the regular season with seven wins for the third time in McKie’s tenure. The Corsairs' two losses were by a combined eight points to two eventual state champions in Providence Catholic and Montini Catholic.
With its 7-2 record, McKie and Carmel earned a top-16 seed in the Illinois High School Association’s Class 7A playoff bracket. The Corsairs made their third appearance in the second round under McKie’s leadership after a dominant 60-44 win, but bowed out in the second round.
Personal accolades mounted for the 2025 team as seven Corsairs earned all-conference honors.
While he agrees that falling four wins short of the ultimate goal of a state title was an unsuccessful season on the field, McKie is mindful of the success he and his staff had in building a conglomeration of boys and morphing them into young adults.
“It doesn't have to be in terms of wins and losses,” McKie said. “It's in terms of the men that we've been able to develop, you know, when they set foot here on campus.
“We’ve had guys that have come in as boys and, getting in trouble and doing things they shouldn't be doing, and they leave as men.”
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Luca Martinez stands to the right of the altar, engaging in the book with scripture in front of him.
Martinez, a two-year varsity punter, volunteered himself to play a role in the pregame mass. The passages vary, but it’s a way for Martinez, who attends weekly mass and “all that stuff” with his family, to express his vulnerability in prayer.
“It helps me, personally, really see how lucky I am to be surrounded by a really good group of guys, and just how lucky we are to be able to play a game we love,”
Martinez said. “Mass gets us in that mindset of play for each other, and have a great mindset to go in and win a big game.”
While Martinez speaks, McKie sits quietly in the back, listening with the same focus he gives a game plan. He doesn’t have to be in the chapel—there’s still film to review, calls to make, and final prep before kickoff. But he chooses to be here, fully present in a room that has nothing to do with X’s and O’s.
That commitment doesn’t go unnoticed.
“It helps knowing that Coach McKie is in it with us and he’s not just staying on the sidelines calling plays,” Martinez says. “He believes in us, and we believe in him.”
Faith didn’t come the typical way for McKie.
His father, Nevil, served 23 years in the Air Force, forcing the family to relocate every three years. The McKies settled in England, the Philippines, and across the United States, including California and Indiana, and ultimately in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
The family never had a church to call home because of all the moving. McKie grew older, resenting the constant change. There was no dressing up in Sunday best, no Sunday School teachings—but his father instilled in him a deep sense of gratitude for life’s blessings.
Though McKie admits his knowledge of the Bible’s intricacies is limited, the biblical tattoos he permanently dons serve as a reminder of his father’s teachings.
“My dad always taught that one day on your tombstone, your birth date's already happened. And what matters in life is that dash between your birth date and your expiration date,” McKie said. “What matters is how you impact people's lives and how much of a blessing you were to people within that dash.”
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The Corsairs turned in their helmets and pads shortly after bowing out in the second round of the IHSA Class 7A playoffs. Their run, although cut short, was fruitful for many, including the coaching staff, as another year came to a close.
McKie continues to learn and grow at 45—not just as a coach and reporter, but as a man of faith. The prayers of his players before games have taught him as much as he has taught them on the gridiron.
Mass is where McKie reflects on what truly matters: the dash between a birth date and an expiration date. Every tackle, every drill, every lesson is part of that dash—a chance to leave a mark, to be a blessing, and to shape the lives of those around him.