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.

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.

"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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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."

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."

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.

"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."

Why so long? One thing I've learned is newspapers have their own deadlines and timetables and publishing houses have theirs. The deadline for submitting my manuscript was Jan. 31. Foolishly, I thought it would be for release before the 2009 season. No, the publisher has his own timetable for Book A, B, C and D. I'll see the page proofs in December, put together an index and wait for the book to come out prior to the 2010 season.

I'm excited about it. To my knowledge, this is the first book written on high school football in Illinois. There have been a lot of basketball books--I've written two of them--but nothing on football. Not until now.

Let's not consider the 1930s and 1940s because the NFL was in its infancy and the salaries were so minimal that many college players opted to pump gas or flip hamburgers rather than get their brains beat out for what amounted to meal money in professional football.

My choices (in alphabetical order)?

Jack Bastable, Tim Beutjer, Quinn Buckner, Jim DiLullo, Howard Jones, Billy Marek, Tim Marshall, Jon Schweighardt, LaMarr Thomas, Homer Thurman.