Football recruits ready to sign on the dotted line
Sometimes there's an upside to being left standing against the wall when college football bowl invitations are handed out.
Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald and his staff used their unwanted down time to transform into recruiting tornadoes.
Fitzgerald made home visits to more than 30 prospects spread over at least 10 states during a six-week period. His assistants cultivated schedules that were almost as insane.
"Our staff has done a great job recruiting," Fitzgerald said. "It's not about me. I get the great fortune of going into young men's homes."
But after being whirlwinds for weeks, Fitzgerald, Illinois' Ron Zook, Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, NIU's Jerry Kill and every other college coach now must fidget in their campus offices and hope and pray no one steals their gifts under the Christmas tree.
College football's national letter of intent period begins Wednesday -- and each local school hopes to get something different out of their respective recruiting classes.
Illinois
Ron Zook and his crew brought in eight recruits in January and have commitments from 19 other recruits.
That group includes six four-star recruits (per Rivals.com), which ought to place Illinois amongst the top 15 or 20 recruiting classes nationally.
But true to his form, Zook is going down to the wire with a few recruits who could change the Illini's class from good to great.
The biggest target? Running back Jamie Harper, a four-star prospect from Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian.
Though Illinois has two veteran running backs on its roster and two more on its commitment list, it's safe to say Harper would be the odds-on favorite to replace Rashard Mendenhall if he chose the Illini.
The coach for the 6-foot, 210-pound Harper, who boasts 4.4 speed, told Rivals.com Harper will announce his choice on an ESPN network at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday.
Harper is down to Miami, Florida State, Clemson and Illinois, and he's done a fine job of keeping everybody guessing.
Northwestern
The Wildcats wanted to replenish their offensive line with this year's class -- and they fulfilled nearly all of their needs with a swing through DuPage County.
Wheaton North's Nick Adamle, Neuqua Valley's Jeff Radek, York's Neal Deiters and Montini's Chuck Porcelli join Loyola's Brian Mulroe are the five linemen in NU's roughly 20-man class.
The average size of this quintet? Six-foot-6 and 293 pounds.
"I'm very happy with this class for a variety of reasons," coach Pat Fitzgerald said.
Notre Dame
Coming off a 3-9 season, the Irish have been selling playing time and lots of blue-chippers have been buying.
According to Rivals.com, Notre Dame has attracted three five-star prospects in its 22-man class: quarterback Dayne Crist (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), wide receiver Michael Floyd (St. Paul, Minn.) and tight end Kyle Rudolph (Cincinnati).
Rivals.com says Notre Dame's class is second nationally to Florida, while Scout.com says the Irish rank second only to Alabama.
Northern Illinois
One of the reasons Joe Novak stepped aside during this off-season? Because the Huskies had just 10 scholarships to fill and thus recruiting would be minimally affected by the coaching change.
Jerry Kill and his staff tapped into several of their favorite areas, including Florida and Missouri, to round out a class that included a few Novak recruits.