Oh, as fans and media, we tend to gravitate to the offense, the teams that average 40 or more points per game, the prolific passing teams, players such as St. Rita's Billy Marek, Maine South's Matt Perez, Wheaton Warrenville South's sensational passing attack of 1998 headed by Jon Beutjer and Jon Schweighardt and Joliet Catholic's 1999 powerhouse led by J.R. Zwierzynski.

But let's talk defense. Defense wins championships, remember? That's what we are constantly reminded of. That's what coaches preach. Defense, defense, defense.

What is particularly exciting about Loyola's defense is the leader is 5-11, 190-pound rush linebacker Pat Dougherty, who was named the Catholic League Blue's defensive player of the year. He is unblockable as he comes off the edge to terrorize quarterbacks. Just watching him is enough to make you glad you chose to attend a high school game instead of Northwestern/Illinois.

While Dougherty is the headliner, he has plenty of friends...tackle Chance Carter, who is committed to Northwestern, linebackers Jimbo Ford, Kyle Guziec and Tom Kelly and defensive backs Jimmy Bonner, Anthony Fassett and Shujaa Benson.

I've seen other great defenses. I'm sure you have, too. But I can't recall any of them that made such an impression.

Evanston's 1971 team, the best coach Murney Lazier ever produced, averaged 41.8 points in an 8-0 season while allowing only 38 and registering five shutouts, the last four in a row. But defensive end George Bridgeforth got little publicity.

Joliet Catholic's 1975 team, the best coach Gordie Gillespie ever produced, scored 434 points while winning the school's first state championship while allowing 80. The Hilltoppers allowed only five touchdowns during the regular season. Linebacker Roger Hewlett was the leader of the defense.

In 1976, Geneseo coach Bob Reade's best team was led by offensive star Wayne Strader but the defense registered four shutouts and allowed only two touchdowns in three other games.

St. Laurence's 1976 state championship team also boasted a physical, bone-jarring defense headed by Kevin Basic, whom coach Tom Kavanagh touted as the best player he ever coached, Jerry Barnicle, Mike Topps, Bill Baier and Pete Stanish.

Mount Carmel's 1988 squad, the best coach Frank Lenti has produced, scored 341 points while allowing 79. The Caravan allowed more than one touchdown in only one game and closed its magical season by beating three unbeaten teams.

But Loyola might not be the best defensive team of 2009. What about Glenbard North, which will test Marist and quarterback Mike Perish in another Class 8A semifinal this weekend?

Coach Ryan Wilkens' 4-3 defense is led by end Nick Abbate, the defensive lineman of the year in the DuPage Valley, end Chris Gavigan, linebackers Johnny Pullia and Chris Wahrman, cornerback Brandon Salemi and safety Andre Smith.

Great assistant coaches, split evenly between coaching and recruiting. You can afford to have great offensive and defensive coordinators who don't like to recruit but you must have seven great recruiters and pay them well.

"To consistently have a winning program, you have to have great facilities, everything you need within walking distance, an indoor practice facility, meeting rooms, tele-media room, weight rooms, conference rooms, players lounge rooms and tutoring rooms," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who for 31 years has observed how colleges engage in the business of recruiting high school prospects.

But there is more to it than that.

Meanwhile, the kids look for other things. They are most interested in facilities, the quickest way to the NFL and girls. They want a social life. They also want to know how many former players from each college have made it to the pros.

That's why you see so many former USC players on the sideline. Coach Pete Carroll knows the presence of former players draws kids. Almost every big-time school has somebody in the pros.

But which programs are the best?

In a comparison of the Big 10 and the SEC, Ohio State is No. 1. Ohio State is the Disneyland of college football. The only other school that compares to the Buckeyes' overall program is Texas.

In the Big 10/SEC comparison, Ohio State ranks ahead of Alabama, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, Michigan and Georgia. In a year or two, Tennessee and Michigan could move to the top of the list. Minnesota is moving up with a new stadium and facilities. Auburn, too.

That seems to be the big selling point among the kids--facilities over NFL success and education and win-loss percentage.

From the first time I covered a Catholic League football game--a Mount Carmel/Loyola matchup in Wilmette on the first day I started to work for the old Chicago Daily News on Sunday, Sept. 8, 1968--I recognized that these Chicago kids played with a split lip and a swagger than nobody else had.

I had witnessed high school football in the old South Suburban League--Bloom's 1957 powerhouse, led by Leroy Jackson, left a lasting impression on me; so did Thornton's 1965 team with LaMarr Thomas--and I covered the East St. Louis/Belleville and Kirkwood/Webster Groves Thanksgiving Day rivalries while working for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

I saw it whenever I covered a Catholic League game. Sunday afternoon at Gately Stadium was the grandest experience of all, an electric atmosphere with big crowds and Big 10 officials working the games. If you were there, you know what I mean. If you weren't, trust me, you missed Ohio State/Michigan on a high school stage.

Maybe it's because the kids began playing football at such an early age, in the Parish leagues. If you think college recruiting is a scandal, you should hear the war stories about how 13-year-olds were wooed from one Catholic school to another to another.

I was awed by the legendary coaches who produced great teams and great players. Fenwick's Tony Lawless was gone. But how about a league with Pat Cronin, Tom Kavanagh, Lou Guida, Bob Spoo, Tom Mitchell, Tom Winiecki, Bob Foster and Frank Lenti? You can't make up a cast of characters like that.

And the players...Tim Marshall, Chris Boskey, Paul Glonek, John Foley, Billy Marek, Dennis Lick, Kevin King, Pete Allard, Jim Kozlowski, Kevin Basic, Tony Furjanic, Corey Rogers, Mark Zavagnin.

I know. You've seen great coaches, teams and players in the old Suburban League (Evanston and Murney Lazier) or the DuPage Valley (Wheaton North and Jim Rexilius) or the West Suburban (Hinsdale Central and Harvey Dickinson). Everybody has their favorites. Over the last 50 years, I've witnessed games in all of those suburban conferences.

But it isn't the same. The Catholic League has an edge. Those kids play harder and hit harder. I know you might find it hard to believe. But it's true. I wouldn't say it if I hadn't seen it for myself. A hit in the Catholic League is unlike any other. The game is played at a higher level.

Even today. Sure, the Catholic League isn't what it used to be. Mendel and Weber are gone. Gordon Tech, St. Laurence, Leo and Fenwick aren't what they used to be. It is left for Mount Carmel, Loyola, St. Rita and Providence, which recently joined the club, to carry the flag. The the tradition carries on.

But recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who has been evaluating high school players for 31 years, insists most fans don't understand there is a pecking order that has been built up over 100 years. Even if your school does well, it has trouble overcoming Michigan or Ohio State or Notre Dame in the Midwest when it comes to recruiting 5-star players.

Lemming points out there are 16 schools--the Super Sixteen--that have a distinct advantage in recruiting. They are Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Miami and Florida State.

Tradition and history speak for the schools. They put more money than anyone else into upgrading their facilities and hiring the best coaches and recruiters. Kids are looking for top-flight facilities and a school's track record in putting players in the pros. Name value is important to people who influence kids.

No one has done better in recent years than Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who has four top 10 finishes in the last seven years. But Ferentz still doesn't have the name recognition of Michigan or Ohio State or Notre Dame, even though neither of the three schools has enjoyed much success since Ohio State won the national championship in 2002.

Fans just don't understand it, especially if they aren't fans of Michigan or Ohio State or Notre Dame.

Auburn moved into the Super Sixteen in the last 10 years as Texas A&M was eased out. UCLA and Washington also were removed from the elite list. In the meantime, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are on the verge of breaking in. The Big East, mostly a basketball conference, is the only major conference without a Super Sixteen representative.

It may have a lot to do with perception. But it takes more than a few winning seasons in a row and a few good recruiting classes to earn a spot in the Super Sixteen.

"The state playoffs have ruined conferences and rivalries and common opponents," said Kankakee Bishop McNamara coach Rich Zinanni, who won state championships in 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1987 and settled for seconds in 1978 and 1981.

"Nobody wants to play anybody (good) for fear of losing. It forces you to find wins on your open dates (so you will qualify for the playoff). The way the system is set is you are in if you are 6-3 but if you are 5-4 it depends on points. The reality is you don't get anything for strength of schedule."

If that wasn't bad enough, McNamara had to survive an IHSA investigation prompted by Sandwich, which hoped to land a spot at McNamara's expense. Sandwich argued that McNamara wasn't entitled to points for beating St. Francis de Sales because the school was playing a junior varsity schedule. The issue was moot because it was proven than de Sales had signed contracts for four varsity games.

Is anyone following all of this?

The point is high school football in Illinois isn't the way it was. For one, I miss the aura of the Prep Bowl and Thanksgiving Day rivalries such as East St. Louis/Belleville. And Sunday games at Gately Stadium. Glenbard West vs. Wheaton Warrenville South. The Mid-Suburban League's Super Bowl.

The Prep Bowl, matching the champions of the Chicago Public League and Chicago Catholic League, was founded in 1934 and quickly became the grandest high school event in the nation. The 1937 game between Austin and Leo attracted an estimated 120,000 to old Soldier Field, the largest crowd ever assembled for a football game--high school, college or professional--in the United States.

The attendance was 83,750 for Weber/Lane Tech in 1961 and 91,328 for Fenwick/Schurz in 1962 and 81,270 for St. Rita/Vocational in 1963. As late as 1970, a crowd of 65,735 showed up for St. Rita/Lane Tech.

With the coming of the state playoff, Prep Bowl crowds began to wane. In recent years, only hundreds watch the game instead of thousands. And the best teams in the two conferences participate in the state playoff, not the Prep Bowl. Attempts to rekindle interest haven't been successful.

With all due respect to the IHSA's procedure for seeding the state playoff, there needs to be another formula to avoid embarrassing some schools, especially the Chicago Public League. No one suggests that city schools are competitive with suburban and Downstate programs. Since the Public League joined the state playoff in 1979, only one city representative (Robeson in 1982) has advanced to the state championship game.

Worse, some city schools have been seeded No. 1 in their brackets by virtue of posting 9-0 records in Public League competition. Remember a few years ago when Marshall was seeded No. 1 and lost its opening game by 50 or 60 points? Let's hope Bogan fares better this year.

The IHSA argues that its system, using a computer, is best of all because it is totally objective and isn't influenced by anyone or anything, just records and points. Strength of schedule has nothing to do with it. In the IHSA's view, Bogan, Senn and Raby are just as good if not better than Maine South, Fremd, Glenbard West, Danville, Cary-Grove and Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin. Who's kidding whom?

Are eight classes at least one too many? Does it make sense to have 256 teams in the playoff? How about only 6-3 finishers and better? How many 5-4 teams are good enough to be competitive? Or are they no better than a 16th seed in a 16-team field that is hoping to be Cinderella before the clock strikes midnight?

The playoffs also played a role in changing the regular-season schedule. Remember when Mount Carmel hosted Leo or Mendel or St. Rita or St. Laurence or Brother Rice at Gately Stadium on Sunday afternoon? When the best officials in the country--Jerry Markbreit, Tom Quinn, Frank Strocchia, Don Hakes, Ed Maracich and other Big 10 officials--would work the Sunday games after working Ohio State/Michigan the previous afternoon? The atmosphere was electric. It isn't there anymore.

As the 2009 playoff begins, let's hope it will write its own exciting chapter in the history of high school football in Illinois. Will there be another final to rival East St. Louis/Glenbrook North in 1974? The five-touchdown performance by Decatur St. Teresa's Jerry Jones in 1975? Greg Bradshaw of Woodstock in 1983? Ryan Clifford of Naperville Central in 1999? Hinsdale Central's John Whitelaw last year?

But what about Christian Lombard of Fremd and Jimmy Garoppolo of Rolling Meadows? Or Providence's Peter Houlihan, the Catholic League Blue's top-rated player?

Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming argues that Lombard, a 6-6, 295-pound offensive lineman who is committed to Notre Dame, should be the choice.

"He is having a dominating year," Lemming said. " He is playing as well or better than any offensive lineman in the country."

"Lombard should be POY but it probably won't happen," Lemming said. "The problem is offensive linemen don't have statistics, like quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Most coaches don't keep statistics for offensive linemen. There is no way to gauge how good they are. It is the only position on the field with no statistics."

Ironically, Lemming rates offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson of St. Paul, Minn., as the No. 1 player in the country this season. It is the first time he has picked an offensive lineman since Bill Fralic in 1980.

"Most people don't think about offensive linemen when it comes to those kind of awards," Lemming said. "Anthony Munoz is considered the greatest offensive tackle of all time, college and NFL, but he never won any MVP honors."

Lemming also thinks Garoppolo has been overlooked by the media and college recruiters. He received some attention last week when he completed 28 of 42 passes for 339 yards and one touchdown in a 46-38 victory over previously unbeaten Prospect for the Mid-Suburban East championship. He also rushed 22 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns while outplaying more publicized Miles Osei of Prospect.

"I saw him against Fremd and he dominated. He was the reason they stayed in the game so long," Lemming said of Garoppolo. "He is among the best quarterbacks in the area. He doesn't have a great supporting cast that other quarterbacks have. I think colleges are missing the boat on him. He has great potential, like Whitelaw and Osei. All of them are qualified to play at a big school."

Let's use Mike White as a model. Sure, he wasn't a saint and he violated some rules that created another scandal and put the university in jail. But let's remember the positive things that helped to build an undefeated Big 10 champion and a Rose Bowl team and attract several big-time players to the campus.

At the same time, he changed the face of Big 10 football and high school football in Illinois. He brought in a new passing offense that influenced nearly every high school coach in the state, forever changing the dynamics of the game.

He followed the game plan of Hayden Fry, whose coaching staff included Barry Alvarez, Kirk Ferentz, Dan McCarney, Dan Snyder and Chuck Long.

White brought in Jeff George, a transfer from Purdue, Jack Trudeau, Tony Eason, Tim Brewster, Jim Juriga, Don Thorp and Dave Williams.

Most of his top players were out-of-staters, many from California, and junior college products, not a good model for Illinois, but he wooed a lot of linemen from the Chicago area. He had roots at the University of California and turned down Elliott's invitation to join his first staff at Illinois in 1960.

Elliott, whose signature recruit was Dick Butkus, also had a talented staff (Bill Taylor, Bobby Herndon, Dee Andros) that blanketed Illinois and once had a dozen players on his roster who played on the 1963 Big 10 championship/Rose Bowl team and later played in the NFL.

"Elliott brought in more Illinois kids. But you can't rely on Chicago kids nowadays because nearly every major Division I program recruits in the Chicago area," recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said.

"You've got to hire good, aggressive recruiters who will be players (in the recruiting process) in Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Memphis and Detroit. At the same time, if you want to build an elite program, you must set your sights on California, Florida or Texas. Illinois was supposed to make its presence felt in Dallas/Fort Worth but it hasn't happened yet.

"Zook has roots in Florida and Illinois is on the list of a lot of prospects. But you need closers, coaches who can seal the deal. It isn't good enough to be one of five finalists on a kid's list. There are signs that the recruiting class of 2010 won't be very good, especially if Zook loses C.J. Fiedorowicz and Corey Cooper."

Whether Zook remains head coach, notwithstanding what happens during the remainder of this season, the game plan for the future is clear. Look what Ferentz is doing at Iowa, what Brewster is doing at Minnesota and what Danny Hope is doing at Purdue. They are doing what coaches are doing in the SEC, the hands-down best conference in college football. They are spending money to hire the best assistant coaches in the country, the ones who recruit the best players.

Illinois, take note.

But I have never seen a better single-game performance than Matt Perez' 341-yard, four-touchdown, two-sack spellbinder in Maine South's dramatic 45-34 victory over Glenbrook South last Saturday in Park Ridge.

As a retired sportswriter, I no longer have a vote. But if Perez isn't the Sun-Times Player of the Year, then God didn't make little green apples and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.

But if you saw Perez on Saturday, in person or on the Comcast telecast, you have to admit you haven't seen anything like it...unless you were in Memorial Stadium in Champaign in 1924 to see Red Grange run into immortality. Yes, Perez was that good.

In a quick recap, the 5-11, 205-pound senior rushed 23 times for 341 yards and scored on runs of 69, 24, 28 and 26 yards. His 69-yarder came on the third play from scrimmage. He also recorded two important sacks from his defensive end position. He also caught one pass for eight yards and returned one kickoff 35 yards.

With his team trailing 34-24 with 2:28 left in the third quarter and Glenbrook South dominating the tempo of the game--the Titans ran 45 plays in the second half to Maine South's 14--Perez put his team on his back.

He ran 30 yards to trigger an 80-yard drive, then scored on a 24-yard sweep to cut the deficit to 34-31. The drive consumed only 37 seconds. After a Glenbrook South field goal attempt fell short, Perez sparked another 80-yard drive by carrying the ball on six of seven plays--on rushes of 9, 4, 8, 10, 22 and 28--to grab a 38-34 lead with 4:57 left.

Finally, he sacked the Glenbrook South quarterback and the Titans failed on fourth-and-eight at Maine South's 26. Perez scored on the next play to seal the victory with 2:39 remaining.

For the season, running in Charlie Bliss' four-wide-and-let-it-fly passing offense, Perez has rushed 102 times for 1,204 yards (11.8 per carry) and 20 touchdowns. He has caught 22 passes for 290 yards (15.2 per reception) and two touchdowns. And he has returned 10 kicks for 297 yards (29.7 per return) and two touchdowns.

On defense, he is Maine South's No. 2 tackler. He has recorded seven sacks.

It figures. Perez has good bloodlines. His father Dave was a Sun-Times All-Chicago Area running back at Glenbard North in 1976 and 1977.

If Perez is selected as the Player of the Year, he would be fifth representative from Maine South, following Tom Spotts in 1967, Jason Loerzel in 1994, Sean Price in 2003 and Charlie Goro in 2008. Dave Butz, perhaps the greatest player in school history, lost out to Evanston's Carlos Matthews in 1968. No other school has won the prize as many times since it was first awarded in 1951.

We're talking about tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz of Johnsburg, wide receiver Kyle Prater of Proviso West and offensive lineman Christian Lombard of Fremd.

Fiedorowicz, who is committed to Illinois but has indicated his intention to visit Iowa and Wisconsin, is rated as the No. 13 player in the nation (and the best tight end of all) by Tom Lemming. But he is rated No. 65 by Scout, No. 85 by ESPN and No. 111 by Rivals.

Lombard, who has indicated that his January commitment to Notre Dame is rock solid and doesn't plan to make any further visits, is rated No. 30 by Lemming and No. 59 by Scout. He isn't even rated in ESPN's top 150 (he is the No. 21 offensive lineman in the nation on ESPN's list) and isn't included in Rivals' top 250.

"I can only explain my ratings," Lemming said. "I have seen them all play in person and on film. I can't explain the other services. I don't know who they are. To me, everything is arbitrary but I think my ratings are solid.

"Have the other services seen them in person and on film? Who is doing the evaluating? Who saw them? The other services live on being anonymous. Who has these these kids play? If there is a wide disparity in the ratings, it means different people are seeing different things."

It also means other factors are influencing the evaluations. Like politics, for example. There is a battle between the Lemming/Rivals U.S. Army All-American Bowl and the ESPN all-star game, which hasn't selected a Chicago area player in two years. Some evaluators never have seen them play. And some players are overlooked because they didn't attend camps that are sponsored by some services.

Rivals recently honored Fiedorowicz for his acceptance to the U.S. Army game. But he still hasn't cracked Rivals' top 100 and is rated as the fifth best tight end on its list. Lemming singled out Fiedorowicz as the nation's premier tight end after the 2008 season. Without Lemming's endorsement, the 6-7, 245-pounder wouldn't have been invited to the game.

How about Lombard? He accumulated 30 scholarship offers before he committed to Notre Dame in January, more than twice as many as Prater or anyone else. How many offers would he have received if he had waited to commit after the 2009 season? Lemming claims the 6-6, 295-pounder is playing better than any other offensive lineman in the Midwest, better than anyone else in the state is playing his position. Other services haven't mentioned his name since January.

Most people seem to agree on Prater. Lemming believes he is the second-best wide receiver in the nation, behind Darius White of Fort Worth, Texas.

One other thing about Rivals' calculations: In its most recent update of the top 250 players in the nation, published this week, Rivals rates quarterback Taylor Graham of Wheaton North as the No. 228 player in the nation. But the Ohio State-bound Graham was injured early in the season and no longer is playing. Several quarterbacks in the Chicago area have had better seasons, including Lake Forest's Tommy Rees, Prospect's Miles Osei, Hinsdale Central's John Whitelaw and Downers Grove South's Chandler Whitmer.

So the question is: Do you rate a player based on his scholarship offers or by his senior production or his body of work or his size, speed and potential? Or which all-star game he will participate in, whose shoes he is wearing or which summer camp he attended?

In recent weeks, he has interviewed Johnsburg's C.J. Fiedorowicz, Proviso West's Kyle Prater and Fremd's Christian Lombard on his television show that is carried nation-wide by CBS College Sports. And he has attended games involving Lombard and Prospect's Miles Osei.

Lemming insists no offensive lineman in the Midwest is playing better than the 6-6, 295-pound Lombard, even better than Seantrel Henderson of St. Paul, Minn., who is widely regarded as the No. 1 player in the nation.

Lemming ranks Lombard as the No. 30 player in the nation, one of the four best offensive linemen. He accumulated 30 scholarship offers before making an oral commitment to Notre Dame in January, more than twice as many as any other player at the time. Goodness knows how many offers he would have today if he still was uncommitted. But Rivals doesn't even include him on its list of the top 250 prospects. Go figure.

Meanwhile, Lemming seems eager to persuade college recruiters that they are making a big mistake by not taking Osei more seriously. He has personally called some schools, including Indiana and Minnesota, to recommend him.

"Without a doubt, he is Big 10 material. He has 15 offers but none from the Big 10 or a BCS school," Lemming said. "To me, he is the real deal. He is like (former West Virginia star) Pat White. He throws a big-time ball. He is a lefty, a great athlete. If you are looking for someone to run the spread offense, there is none better than Osei."

Why hasn't Osei attracted more interest?

"There are a million reasons. Why didn't the colleges go after Jeff Garcia, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger or Kurt Warner?" Lemming said. "All of them struggled to get offers from big schools. Roethlisberger's dream was to go to Ohio State but they turned him down. All it takes is for one big school to offer..."

What about Fiedorowicz and Prater?

Fiedorowicz, who earlier committed to Illinois, has declared that he will visit Iowa and Wisconsin. He is concerned about how many catches the tight end gets in each offense. Illinois doesn't throw to the tight end very much. But Fiedorowicz said coach Ron Zook promised they will throw more often to the tight end when he gets there. The 6-7, 245-pounder has noticed that Iowa throws to its tight end.

Prater, who committed to USC one week and announced he will continue to make visits a week later, apparently has cooled on USC after receiving an unfavorable report from a former USC player. At this time, it seems more likely that the 6-4 wide receiver will choose Illinois or Oklahoma.

"They are well-coached," he says.

When was the last time you heard a coach or TV or radio analyst or sportswriter refer to a team as being poorly coached? I can't remember. If you had, the criticism would have made headlines like Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder and Al Campanis. Every team is well-coached, right?

Not really.

"It isn't possible to be an elite program in college and be poorly coached unless you are a great recruiter and your talent overcomes everything else," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who has been observing high school and college football for 30 years.

The problem is almost every TV and radio analyst is associated with college coaches. They interview them to obtain information. If they are too negative in their evaluations or criticism, they risk losing their access to the coaches and the players.

"I hear it off the record all the time in high school and college," Lemming said. "A college coach will say a high school prospect isn't coached well, that they can team him proper fundamentals that he is lacking when they get him on campus. But they never will go on the record with a comment like that or they would never be welcome at that high school again. It's all part of doing business."

Perhaps the most publicized case of "Is his team well-coached or poorly coached?" involved former King basketball coach Landon Cox. Most critics argued that Cox was a poor coach who simply tossed the basketballs on the floor and let his enormously talented players--Efrem Winters, Marcus Liberty, Jamie Brandon, Rashard Griffith, Leon Smith--overwhelm their opponents.

I begged to differ. Yes, Cox has great talent, more than anyone else in the 1980s and early 1990s. His record proves it. He reached the 500-victory milestone more quickly than any other coach and he produced three state championship teams and one national championship team in a period of eight years.

But examine the circumstances. In an environment of broken homes and gang- and drug-infested neighborhoods, Cox was able to keep his teams together, resurrected the lives of Reggie Woodward and Johnny Selvie and dozens of others, and sent many of them to college. Without him, they never would have left the inner city. Cox had his issues but dedicating himself to his players wasn't one of them.

On top of that, suburban coaches whom I respect were always complimentary of Cox's coaching methods after observing his teams in state-tournament competition. They had direction and they had purpose. With so much individual talent on those teams (particularly 1986, 1990 and 1993), you still got a sense that he was emphasizing and teamwork and the players were buying into the system.

Lombard? An offensive lineman? Player of the Year?

"No offensive lineman in the Midwest is playing better than Lombard right now, not even Seantrel Henderson, the No. 1 player in the nation," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. "He is 6-6 and weighs 295 pounds and has cut his body fat down to 7 percent this year. He looks like a defensive lineman. He has a nasty attitude that offensive linemen need, that a lot of them don't have."

Few could argue that Maine South's Charlie Goro or Naperville North's Jordan Tassio or Wheaton Warrenville South's Dan Dierking or Morris' John Dergo weren't worthy of winning the Player of the Year award in the last four years.

Two quarterbacks and two running backs.

The last linemen to earn the prize were Weber's Tim Marshall in 1979 and St. Francis de Sales' Chris Boskey in 1977. Both were defensive standouts.

And the only linebackers who achieved the honor since Dick Butkus in 1959 were Joliet Catholic's Chris Jeske in 2004, St. Rita's John Foley in 1985 and Mount Carmel's Tony Furjanic in 1981.

Sounds like a high school version of the Heisman Trophy, which has honored quarterbacks for eight of the last nine years. The last lineman to be recognized as the top player in college football was Notre Dame end Leon Hart in 1949. In fact, an interior lineman or linebacker has never been selected since the Heisman was originally awarded in 1935.

Lemming has seen them all and he gives Osei an edge.

"This is the year of the quarterback in the Chicago area and Osei and Rees are the two best," Lemming said. "If the Big 10 doesn't take Osei, they are making a mistake. He is another (former West Virginia star) Pat White. If you are looking for a quarterback to run the spread, there is no one better than Osei. If you are looking for a dropback passer, Rees is the choice."

The problem is we are hung up on statistics. Quarterbacks and running backs have them. Offensive linemen don't have them. Maybe that's why somebody came up with the idea of tallying pancake blocks, a statistic that Lombard specializes in. If Butkus couldn't win the Heisman as a senior at Illinois, it's hard to imagine how any lineman or linebacker could prevail in the voting.

Osei, Rees, Akui and Perez, a two-way player for the state's top-rated team, are legitimate candidates. Each boasts impressive statistics. It is so much easier to evaluate a player who has passed or rushed for 2,000 yards and looks good on a highlight film than it is to evaluate a lineman who blocks for him.

Somehow, some way, the system needs to be re-evaluated and revised to give everyone an equal opportunity. Or else why do running backs always go out of their way to credit their offensive line after they've scored the winning touchdown? Could they have scored without them? Surely, linemen aren't second-class citizens and shouldn't be treated as such.

It's all about white players who aren't recruited to play wide receiver, running back or cornerback in college. No matter how good they are in high school, no matter how productive, no matter how fast or how big they are, they are rarely if ever recruited by big-time college programs.

"College recruiters talk off the record to me," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. "They talk off the record that if an athlete is white, no matter how great his production, they won't recruit him."

"When I started to evaluate players in the late 1970s, there were whispers that blacks couldn't play quarterback. No one talked about it publicly at the time, of course. It was an example of reverse prejudice. But now college coaches and pro scouts have changed their minds about that issue," Lemming said.

"But now white kids want to play other positions where they will be recruited because they know then won't get a fair shot at cornerback or running back."

On his annual coast-to-coast trips to evaluate the top 1,500 prospects in the country, Lemming sees hundreds of white tailbacks who are very productive but few get a chance in college. For example, there isn't a white tailback in the Big 10 this season.

Think about it. How many white players can you think of who played wide receiver, tailback or cornerback in college or even the NFL? No one was more successful than Kaneland's Don Beebe, whose 4.29 speed earned him a nine-year career in the NFL and six trips to the Super Bowl.

Others who come to mind are wide receiver Jeff Samardzija of Notre Dame, who chose a career in professional baseball; Buffalo Grove's Tom Zbikowski, who was switched from cornerback to free safety by then Notre Dame coach Ty Willingham; and retired cornerback Jason Seahorn of the New York Giants.

"You rarely see a white tailback in college, not at the big schools," Lemming said. "I can't remember the last time I saw a white tailback at a big-time school with the possible exception of Sam McGuffie, who played at Michigan, then transferred to Rice."

What does that say about Illinois recruiting?

"It doesn't say anything at the moment," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. "It means the area they are recruiting doesn't have any top 30 players. Most of the top players in the Chicago area are committed (the Illini have landed Johnsburg's C.J. Fiedorowicz, Downers Grove South's Chandler Whitmer and Proviso East's Corey Cooper) and Proviso West's Kyle Prater still is in the mix.

"They lost of the best recruiters in the county and they aren't winning big on the field yet. If they have a good season, they'll get good players, just as they did two years ago. Illinois is one of those schools, unlike Ohio State and Michigan and Notre Dame in the Midwest, that has to win on a consistent basis to recruit good players.

"The others can do it even without good seasons because of their football tradition. What Illinois needs is better recruiters. If they don't have a good season, it's up to the recruiters to get the job done, to sell the school.

"When they were 2-10, they sold hope and had a good recruiting year. But you can't sell hope forever. Prospects are looking for more than that. I've said all along that the biggest problem with Big 10 football is the school don't pay their assistant coaches enough money. That's why they aren't competing with the SEC, which pays big money for very aggressive recruiters."

Illinois offered Larry Johnson, one of the premier recruiters in the country, a lot of money to leave Penn State. But he turned down an annual paycheck of over $400,000 to stay with Joe Paterno, who gave him a healthy raise.

Notre Dame tried to get the defensive line coach at Ohio State who recruited Terrelle Pryor but he turned down the offer to stay at Ohio State, his alma mater, for more money.

At Tennessee, former Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron got $650,000 to be defensive line coach. He has a great reputation as an outstanding recruiter.

The SEC gets it, the Big 10 doesn't. You win by recruiting, by getting the best players. There are no geniuses in coaching. But some coaches are exceptionally smart in the recruiting game.

"It is very important to get at least one difference-maker at certain positions--quarterback, tailback, wide receiver and rush end," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who has been evaluating and uncovering difference-makers for 31 years.

"A difference-maker is a guy who can change a game with one play, a guy who you can count on to make a game-winning play when you are behind with two minutes to play or a defender who can stop a drive with one play."

The list is short and distinguished. Dick Butkus was a difference-maker at Illinois. Michael Vick was a difference-maker at Virginia Tech, Michael Crabtree at Texas Tech, Tim Tebow at Florida, Reggie Bush at USC, Randy Moss at Marshall, Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma and Ron Dayne at Wisconsin.

"They must be injury free and go into a program that will best utilize their ability," Lemming said, noting that injuries and other factors often rob outstanding high school prospects of their great potential even before they get to college.

Butkus was a difference-maker at Illinois. So was Rashard Mendenhall. And Arrelius Benn. Martez Wilson was supposed to be one but a serious injury has slowed his progress. Juice Williams also was highly recruited. But coach Ron Zook hasn't signed a legitimate difference-maker in the last two years.

In the last five decades, Illinois has produced only a handful of difference-makers. The list is headed by Butkus, Mendenhall, Jimmy Smith, Alvin Ross, Clay Matthews, Chris Boskey, Dennis Lick, Scott Dierking, Tony Furjanic, Eric Kumerow, Dempsey Norman and John Foley.

All had sensational high school careers but some didn't reach their potential or high expectations in college because of poor grades or injuries. Some stood out in college but had only good but hardly distinguished careers in professional football. Only Butkus and Matthews had outstanding NFL careers.

Billy Marek, Ryan Clifford and Dan Dierking were high school difference-makers who led their teams to No. 1 rankings and state championships but were deemed too small by college recruiters and NFL scouts.

Still, Marek played at Wisconsin and graduated as one of the school's all-time leading rushers. But the NFL said he was too small. Clifford never got a chance in college. And Dierking, whose father played with the New York Jets, is trying to find a niche at Purdue.

Who are the difference-makers in the class of 2010?

Seantrel Henderson of St. Paul, Minn., a 6-7, 325-pound offensive lineman, has a chance. So has running back Lache Seastrunk of Temple, Texas. And quarterback Phillip Sims of Chesapeake, Va.

It all proves that, no matter how much talent you have or how many yards you have rushed for or passed for or how many touchdowns you have scored, the odds of completing a journey from high school to college to the NFL is long and difficult. It makes you wonder how many players might have been better than Walker or Elway or Marino in high school but never got a chance to realize their potential.