Thousands of senior high school student-athletes across the nation signed national letters of intent Wednesday and all of them hope they found the right fit.
In Division I football, Lincoln-Way East quarterback Blake Winkler set the school record for passing yardage (4,298) and passing touchdowns (51) but because he was 6-foot tall and 180 pounds, he wasn’t sought out by the big schools. But he was able to land at Illinois State University and he has no animosity about the recruiting process. He thinks he found that fit.
“It’s a hard feeling that you have to be a certain size to do a certain thing,” Winkler said. “But God made me this way and he has a plan for me and I trust it 100 percent. I’m at the right place and I’m excited ISU took a chance on me.”
His main receiver, J.J. Robertson, also hopes the University of Illinois is a good fit for him. He verbally committed while Ron Zook was the coach but Zook was fired and Tim Beckman was hired, throwing a lot of confusion among Zook’s recruits.
But Robertson stuck to his commitment and signed with the Illini Wednesday.
“There were some hectic times,” Robertson said. “Coach Beckman came in at a rough time. But he did a good job maintaining relationships with the recruits. I had a good relationship with coach Zook but I also had a good relationship with other people at the university. When coach Zook got fired, I did take it hard but when I met coach Beckman, I knew they had the same type of characteristics.’’
A strong contingent of TribLocal-area seniors inked DI football letters-of-intent on Wednesday. Here is a look at those from a list gathered by the Chicago Tribune.
Joliet Catholic Academy's Malin Jones will attend Northwestern. (Jeff Vorva/Tribune)
South Suburbs
Andrew: Mike Love, Western Illinois.
Bolingbrook: Andre Allen, Illinois State; Robbie Bain, Illinois; Jeremy Curry, Western Illinois; Anthony Harris, Northern Michigan; Antonio Morrisson, Florida; Tevin Teamer, Central Missouri; Phillip Wilson, Indiana State.
Joliet Catholic: Malin Jones, Northwestern.
Joliet West: Matt Koran, Harvard.
Providence Catholic: Charles Barth, Western Michigan; Ryan Ward, Iowa.
Lemont: Kyle Krull, Western Illinois; Brad Uher, Western Illinois.
Lincoln-Way East: Kevin Bayer, North Dakota; Al Hern, Drake, Joel Magrum, Indiana State.
Lincoln-Way West: BJ Bello, Illinois.
Lockport: Billy Rood, Southern Illinois; Zach Wolfe, Butler.
Romeoville: Perez Ford, Northern Illinois.
Sandburg: Dan Feeney, Indiana.
Aurora Christian's Anthony Maddie will head to Western Michigan. (Jeff Vorva/Tribune)
West Suburbs
Aurora Christian: Anthony Maddie, Western Michigan.
Batavia: Cole Gardner, Eastern Michigan; Alec Lyons, Indiana State.
Downers Grove South: Scott Daly, Notre Dame.
Elgin St. Edward: Evan Finnane, Army.
Geneva: Tyler Hickey, Davidson; Ben Rogers, Cornell; Matt Williams, Northern Illinois.
Glenbard South: Kyle Avaloy, Illinois State.
Glenbard West: Tommy Schtt, Ohio State.
Hinsdale Central: Ryan Callen, Miami (Ohio).
Montini: Jaleel Johnson, Iowa; Jim Lowery, Eastern Illinois.
Naperville North: Ron Colussi, Central Michigan; David Meyerhoff, Southern Illinois; Anthony Taylor, Eastern Illinois; Jordan Westerkamp, Nebraska.
Neuqua Valley: Michael Ippolito, Northern Illinois.
South Elgin: David Reisner, Navy; Scott Simpson, Western Illinois.
Waubonsie Valley: Tyler Mellecker, Indiana State.
West Chicago: Nate Sudnick, Dayton.
Wheaton Warrenville South: Greg Hohenstein, Bowling Green; Dan Vitali, Northwestern.
Loyola's Malcolm Weaver is heading to Butler. (Jeff Vorva/Tribune)
Northwest Suburbs
Barrington: Chase Murdock, Toledo; Dan Voltz, Wisconsin.
Conant: Paul Perschon, Toledo.
Jacobs: Maciej Kozlowski, Southern Illinois. Caz Zyks, Drake.
Lake Zurich: Jack Lynn, Minnesota;
Libertyville: Luke Matthewson, North Dakota.
McHenry: Robert Tonyan Jr., Indiana State.
Niles Notre Dame: Conner Gavin, Northern Illinois; Tristan Humbles, Western Illinois; Sam Retzky, Tulsa.
Woodstock Marian Central: Scott Taylor, Northern Illinois.
Stevenson: Jake Hurcombe; Eastern Michigan; Carl Miller, Air Force.
North suburbs
Evanston: Leonard Garron, Southern Illinois.
Lake Forest Academy: Richard Barber, Holy Cross; Faith Ekakitie, Iowa;
Lakes: Dan Pawlak, Illinois State.
Loyola: Robert Delaney, Dayton; Michael Scott, Dayton; Malcolm Weaver, Butler.
