Many of the top players in the classes of 2009 and 2010 gathered at Proviso West in Hillside on Sunday. The seniors are slightly better than I originally thought but still average at best. But the juniors are shaping up as a special class, maybe the best since 1986 which produced 141 full-ride scholarships and sent 17 to the NFL.

The bigget news of all, however, was that Morgan Park defensive end Craig Drummond, the No. 1 player in the class of 2009, reported that he had passed his ACT exam with a score of 22. If he achieves a 2.0 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale), the 6-5, 265-pounder will qualify for any of the leading Division I programs in the country.

Many schools had cooled toward Drummond, fearing he might not qualify, and some recruiting analysts had lowered his rating. Now all that has changed. In my view, he always has been the state's premier prospect. He looks like a young Richard Dent. Last year, he had 18 sacks.

Meanwhile, Johnsburg's C.J. Fiedorowicz has emerged as the No. 1 junior in the state. In fact, the 6-7, 235-pound receiver with 4.54 speed could be the top-rated tight end in the country, one of the top 10 juniors. He has moved ahead of Fremd lineman Christian Lombard and Loyola defensive end Chance Carter, who also could rank among the top 25 in the nation.

How good is the class of 2010? Fiedorowicz, Lombard and Carter are the headliners. But defensive back Corey Cooper of Proviso East, who has committed to Illinois, McHenry quarterback Tom Rose, Fenwick defensive end Jack Ditmar, Wheaton North quarterback Taylor Graham, Hinsdale Central quarterback John Whitelaw and Lemont linebackers Zach Burns and Connor Nagel also are potential standouts.

Rose is Fiedorowicz' cousin. Ditmar, a 6-4, 240-pounder, is described by Fenwick coach Joe DiCanio as "our best player in years." Lombard, a 6-6, 280-pounder at age 15, projects to be a dominating offensive lineman. Cooper, a 6-2, 200-pounder, is beginning to attract a lot of attention from other schools.

The class of 1986 is the highwater mark in Illinois, the best group of recruits ever produced in this season. It was headed by St. Rita linebacker John Foley, the Player of the Year, who was injured at Notre Dame. But St. Laurence's Tim Grunhard and Stan Smagala, Young's Russell Maryland, Homewood-Flossmoor's Nolan Harrison, Schaumburg's Paul Justin and Sandburg's Jeff Alm reached the NFL.

Among the seniors, Providence's Pat Ward and Sandburg's Mike Schofield are the fastest rising players in the state. They will have over 20 offers in the next few weeks. Ward, a 6-7, 300-pound, dwarfs other offensive linemen. He has redefined his body, put on good weight and looks like an All-American.

Glenbard West offensive lineman Chris Watt, who is smaller than Ward and Schofield but more dominating on film, said he has narrowed his list of schools to Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Iowa, Boston College, Penn State and Stanford.

Other seniors who surely will enhance their reputations with productive senior years are Richards tight end Sean Pratl, Lemont linebacker Luke Anderson, Hubbard linebacker Darius Moffett, Lemont fullback Tyler Burns, Glenbard North defensive end Kyle Schwetz and Lake Forest defensive lineman Scott Covert.

Covert, son of former Bears offensive lineman Jimbo Covert, is a 6-2, 240-pounder who needs to bulk up to play defensive tackle in college. But he is relentless and demonstrates the same aggressive nature as his father.

Posted by Second Season at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Las Vegas is not only the fastest growing town in the United States, it is perhaps the fastest growing football town. It is a must stop for any college football coach who recruits nationally.

In the 1970s and 1980s, I didn't even go to Las Vegas to evaluate recruits. In those days, it was rare for more than one All-America prospect to come out of the entire state of Nevada.

No longer. There are 22 high schools in the Las Vegas area and there are several big-time recruits, including at least two top 100 players--6-5, 255-pound defensive end Justin Chaisson, who is committed to Oklahoma, and 6-4, 235-pound defensive end Keenan Graham, who has been offered by 33 schools, including Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern, UCLA, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

I think Graham has more potential than Chaisson. He is a very good basketball player. Once he gives up basketball to concentrate on football, he will rate an edge. He is relentless and possesses a lot of speed off the corner.

Other Las Vegas products who figure to attract a lot of Division I attention are 6-2, 240-pound linebacker T.J. Alofipo; 6-3, 220-pound linebacker Liloa Nobriga, who has been offered by Nevada-Las Vegas; 5-9, 191-pound running back Akil Sharp, who has been offered by Stanford, California and other West Coast schools; and 6-0, 215-pound linebacker Damien Proby, who has been offered by Northwestern.

Also 6-3, 310-pound offensive lineman J.T. Tofaeono; 6-4, 300-pound offensive lineman Alanzi Langstaff, a diamond in the rough who missed his junior year because of a knee injury; 6-0, 160-pound cornerback Reese Campbell; and 6-0, 175-pound Torin Harris, who is the best cornerback in the state.

Another standout is 6-4, 215-pound wide receiver/defensive end Kyle Van Noy of Reno, an outstanding 400-meter runner who has been offered by California and Nevada-Las Vegas.

Nevada is one of the last frontiers for football talent that many colleges still don't cultivate, like Hawaii. Several players don't have scholarship offers because not a lot of college coaches bother to recruit in the state. I recall one coach who visited Las Vegas only to gamble for two days.

Personally, I like kids who don't have any offers. I like writing about them. Maybe I can help them to get offers. For example, wide receiver Jamal Patterson of McDonough, Georgia, didn't have any offers after signing day last February.

I watched the 6-3, 205-pounder on film and felt he had enormous potential. He is one of his state's leading hurdlers. He averaged 20 yards per reception last season. And he has a 4.0 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

On my travels, I mentioned his name to several coaches, insisting that he was good enough to attract offers. I said he was one of the best wide receivers I had seen. Once they evaluated his film, nearly every school offered a scholarship. Today, he has more than 30 offers, including Illinois, Michigan and Notre Dame.

Posted by Second Season at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In my opinion, Kevin White was the best athletic director that Notre Dame has ever had. But I'm not surprised that he was pushed out of South Bend and has moved on to Duke.

Notre Dame has a history of infighting between the administration and rich, powerful alumni. White didn't cater to the alumni, who wanted to run things.

But White turned Notre Dame into a first-class athletic program off the field.

First, in the last three years, he oversaw the building of top-notch facilities that are as good as any school in the nation.

Second, he also made sure that assistant coaches were paid as well as others at other major programs throughout the country. That wasn't the case in the pre-White era.

In the last 20 years, many assistant coaches told me that they wouldn't accept a position at Notre Dame beause the school was so cheap.

Notre Dame was living in the past, on their rich tradition of Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz, until White brought them into the new millenium.

A good bet to succeed White is Bubba Cunningham, currently the athletic director at Tulsa. Cunningham is a Notre Dame alum who once served as an assistant athletic director in South Bend. He went to Ball State, then to Tulsa to be groomed for the Irish job. Now he's ready.

Posted by Second Season at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)