Second Season: July 2008 Archives

The month of July is the slowest month of the year for football recruiting. It is time when the fewest number of players choose to commit.

Why? Because most camps are over by July 4 and college coaches go on vacation for a month. Players make unofficial visits but the head coaches aren't on campus. In most cases, kids make early commitments during camps in June or in August before the school year begins. There is no pressure in July.

But this is a month of opportunity. This is a month where kids who haven't received scholarship offers should go to schools with film and make sure someone on the staff is aware of him. Someone always is on duty.

A common perception of recruiting is colleges will sign any blue-chip athlete who isn't serving a life sentence, that parolees are welcome. Have you checked the rap sheets at some colleges lately?

On the record, however, college coaches insist that character--the mental, ethical and conspicuous or behavioral traits that distinguish an individual--is the most important aspect of the recruiting process.

They want to recruit athletes with character, not characters who are athletes.

So how can you be sure that you will sign a Derrick Rose instead of Stephon Marbury or a Quinn Buckner instead of Pacman Jones?

This is a weak year for football recruiting in Illinois. So Illinois coach Ron Zook is going elsewhere to find talent. A majority of his scholarship offers have been extended to out-of-state players. But he is getting the players he wants.

Zook got the quarterback he wanted in Nathan Scheelhaase of Kansas City, Mo., who is a perfect fit for Illinois' spread offense. He can run and pass. For Zook's needs, he is one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the nation.

Zook also got a wide receiver he coveted in Terry Hawthorne of East St. Louis, who is great in space, reliable and a playmaker. Look for more celebrated teammate Kraig Appleton, a 6-3, 195-pound game-breaker who won the state low hurdles championship last spring, to join Hawthorne in the near future.