nropp11
Vice-President of Fondy Fanclub
The weather may be steamy, the golf courses full and the boats gurgling around our area lakes.
But it’s nearly football season and on Thursday and Friday of this coming week, the 11 Big Ten Conference head football coaches will converge upon Chicago to make it official.
Big Ten media days signal the start of training camps. When Illinois holds its own media day Aug. 3, it will for the first time be held in Rantoul, which means coach Ron Zook’s Camp Rantoul regimen is underway.
Already there is activity in and around college football. It’s a prime time for recruits to verbally commit, many choosing to get this important decision out of the way before the start of their own senior high school seasons.
And so it was this week when one of the top high school quarterbacks in the nation, Nathan Scheelhaase of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, lined up six ball caps and on local television let the suspense build before sliding one onto his head.
There was a cap from Oklahoma, another from Nebraska. There was one from Missouri and one from Iowa. And there were caps from Kansas and from Illinois.
Rumors had circulated that Oklahoma might be his choice. This was, afterall, going to be a tough kid to pry free of Big 12 Conference territory.
But it would be difficult to tear him away from Iowa, too, since both Scheelhaase’s father and uncle had played for the Hawkeyes.
“Once a Hawkeye, always a Hawkeye,” his dad had been quoted as saying. But Nathan Scheelhaase, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder who is perfectly suited to pass and run from the spread offense, reached forward and grabbed the orange cap. With that grand gesture he pledged his allegiance to Zook and the Illini.
It will be a year before Scheelhaase joins the Illini program and he may well redshirt that first season if Juice Williams and Eddie McGee are still around for their senior years.
But it’s worth noting that while making his decision, the continuity Illinois has enjoyed on offense and its ability to stock top-rated players on that side of the ball has to be a monster help.
One of the best things to happen to Illinois since the regular-season ended last year is hanging onto offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/recruiting ace Mike Locksley.
If you recall, Locksley was on West Virginia’s radar late last year and while Illinois was prepping for the Rose Bowl, Zook and athletic director Ron Guenther made Locksley one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country, reportedly giving him $500,000 a year in a deal that runs through 2012.
That’s a bundle for an assistant coach but Locksley is worth it. He is a magnificent recruiter, a wonderful communicator and teacher and when he speaks to a young prospect about offensive football, he generates an excitement that is undeniable.
Add the convincing voice of running backs coach/recruiting whiz Reggie Mitchell and that of Zook himself and they form a triad that can lock up a national recruit like Scheelhaase.
Not even money can keep Locksley around forever. He is destined to be a head coach and it’s a miracle the blockbuster offer has yet to arrive.
For the time being, though, the Illini offense remains in his capable hands.
In Chicago this week, reporters will ask Zook how he can move past the considerable loss of running back Rashard Mendenhall, and it’s the single most pressing question the Illini will face.
But that’s where it’s wise to have some faith in Locksley.
Illinois led the Big Ten in rushing each of the last two years and last season, while averaging 266.2 yards per game, the Illini were fifth in the nation on the ground.
Mendenhall was great, but Locksley has found ways to make the running game work from the spread no matter who carries the ball. So while Illinois probably won’t have a 1,700-yard rusher this season, the running attack should still be very respectable even of it’s a committee who gets it done.
It also will swing a little more responsibility onto Juice Williams and his ability to pass the ball, but as a junior, he should now be ready for that responsibility.
By the time the season opener rolls around Aug. 30 against Missouri, we’ll know a lot more about the running back position for the Illini. By then a few more recruiting targets are likely to have committed, some influenced by the faith Scheelhaase is showing in the Illini and in an offense that is drawing players to Champaign.
But it’s nearly football season and on Thursday and Friday of this coming week, the 11 Big Ten Conference head football coaches will converge upon Chicago to make it official.
Big Ten media days signal the start of training camps. When Illinois holds its own media day Aug. 3, it will for the first time be held in Rantoul, which means coach Ron Zook’s Camp Rantoul regimen is underway.
Already there is activity in and around college football. It’s a prime time for recruits to verbally commit, many choosing to get this important decision out of the way before the start of their own senior high school seasons.
And so it was this week when one of the top high school quarterbacks in the nation, Nathan Scheelhaase of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, lined up six ball caps and on local television let the suspense build before sliding one onto his head.
There was a cap from Oklahoma, another from Nebraska. There was one from Missouri and one from Iowa. And there were caps from Kansas and from Illinois.
Rumors had circulated that Oklahoma might be his choice. This was, afterall, going to be a tough kid to pry free of Big 12 Conference territory.
But it would be difficult to tear him away from Iowa, too, since both Scheelhaase’s father and uncle had played for the Hawkeyes.
“Once a Hawkeye, always a Hawkeye,” his dad had been quoted as saying. But Nathan Scheelhaase, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder who is perfectly suited to pass and run from the spread offense, reached forward and grabbed the orange cap. With that grand gesture he pledged his allegiance to Zook and the Illini.
It will be a year before Scheelhaase joins the Illini program and he may well redshirt that first season if Juice Williams and Eddie McGee are still around for their senior years.
But it’s worth noting that while making his decision, the continuity Illinois has enjoyed on offense and its ability to stock top-rated players on that side of the ball has to be a monster help.
One of the best things to happen to Illinois since the regular-season ended last year is hanging onto offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/recruiting ace Mike Locksley.
If you recall, Locksley was on West Virginia’s radar late last year and while Illinois was prepping for the Rose Bowl, Zook and athletic director Ron Guenther made Locksley one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country, reportedly giving him $500,000 a year in a deal that runs through 2012.
That’s a bundle for an assistant coach but Locksley is worth it. He is a magnificent recruiter, a wonderful communicator and teacher and when he speaks to a young prospect about offensive football, he generates an excitement that is undeniable.
Add the convincing voice of running backs coach/recruiting whiz Reggie Mitchell and that of Zook himself and they form a triad that can lock up a national recruit like Scheelhaase.
Not even money can keep Locksley around forever. He is destined to be a head coach and it’s a miracle the blockbuster offer has yet to arrive.
For the time being, though, the Illini offense remains in his capable hands.
In Chicago this week, reporters will ask Zook how he can move past the considerable loss of running back Rashard Mendenhall, and it’s the single most pressing question the Illini will face.
But that’s where it’s wise to have some faith in Locksley.
Illinois led the Big Ten in rushing each of the last two years and last season, while averaging 266.2 yards per game, the Illini were fifth in the nation on the ground.
Mendenhall was great, but Locksley has found ways to make the running game work from the spread no matter who carries the ball. So while Illinois probably won’t have a 1,700-yard rusher this season, the running attack should still be very respectable even of it’s a committee who gets it done.
It also will swing a little more responsibility onto Juice Williams and his ability to pass the ball, but as a junior, he should now be ready for that responsibility.
By the time the season opener rolls around Aug. 30 against Missouri, we’ll know a lot more about the running back position for the Illini. By then a few more recruiting targets are likely to have committed, some influenced by the faith Scheelhaase is showing in the Illini and in an offense that is drawing players to Champaign.
