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°­±õ¸é°­°Â°¿°¿¶ÙÌý— remembers the first time he played a football game.

He jumped out of bed, put on his pads, helmet and even had his mouthpiece in while he sat down at the table for breakfast. 

Eberhart, now a Kirkwood High senior, had to take out the mouthpiece for cereal, but everything else stayed on for hours before he took the field for that youth game.

"I was eating breakfast with my helmet on," Eberhart said. "My (mother) got mad at me and told me to take it off, and I was like, 'No, I've got to be ready for the game.' "

That was when Eberhart was 10 years old, and safe to say the 6-foot-3 and 210-pound do-it-all athlete has been ready ever since.

And the first day Pioneers coach Jeremy Maclin saw Eberhart on the practice field, he knew he had something special.

"Day one, when he came here, you could see it," Maclin said. "It was all about catching him up to speed. But you knew as far as his athletic ability from the first day."

Eberhart, No. 3 on the Post-Dispatch Super 30 football recruiting countdown of the area's top senior college recruits, verbally committed to the University of Illinois in July. 

He had dozens of NCAA Division I offers, many from high-level programs.

"I picked Illinois because I felt like it was a very great community," Eberhart said. "There are a lot of ties, and I knew that they had my best interest at heart."

Eberhart said Terry Hawthorne — the Illini's director of defensive player personnel and a 2009 East St. Louis High graduate — was instrumental in recruiting him. 

Illinois is coming off a 10-3 season that included a 21-17 win over South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl. 

Eberhart, who is listed on the Pioneers program as an athlete, is a Mack truck on the field. 

"He's a versatile athlete and a guy who I believe is going to be able to do so many different things," Maclin said.

Maclin is prepared to set loose the wrecking ball anywhere and everywhere on the field this season, and Eberhart said he is ready to do whatever the Pioneers need.

Eberhart led Kirkwood with 15 touchdowns last year, 13 of those receiving. He caught 42 passes for 795 yards. On defense, he had 45 tackles and three interceptions as the Pioneers advanced to the Class 6 semifinal round. 

He's being recruited as a defensive back, and he routinely makes highlight plays receivers coach Tyler Manne calls "Jacob plays."

"That's why he's listed as an athlete," Manne said. "He can go up, make plays on defense and then offense. He makes some unbelievable catches, whether it's going off two feet or going up with two hands. He makes one-handed catches look easy. He makes those special plays, and we kind of just get used to it."

Maclin, a former Kirkwood High standout who played at the University of Missouri before embarking on an NFL career with three teams, pointed out how good Eberhart is as a defender.

When asked, Maclin gave a slight smile about if he could get free from blanket coverage by Eberhart.

"I'm happy with what I was able to do," Maclin said. "but I'm just glad I get to watch (Eberhart) this year."

Kirkwood defensive backs coach Terrence Curry said Eberhart’s intangibles are as valuable as the statistics he’s compiled.

"He's a hard worker, dedicated to the game and has fun playing the game," Curry said. "What do I like more about him? He's vocal. He's a leader."

Eberhart's offensive abilities were on full display last season as the Pioneers opened a lot of eyes by reaching the Class 6 state semifinals.

In four postseason games, he made 27 receptions for 582 yards and six touchdowns, including 192 yards and two TDs in Kirkwood's 28-26 upset of CBC in the district title game.

The Pioneers fell at Nixa in the semifinals, and Eberhart hopes to help his teammates finish the job before he heads to Champaign.

"I'm not bigger than the standard, so it's my goal as a team to make it up to state," Eberhart said. "My standard is going to be to help Kirkwood football the best I can, my last year. Give it all I got and pour into this team what these coaches pour into me and show everybody what Kirkwood football is."