Hayes parts ways with Northern Illinois

As expected ever since he verbally committed to Northern Illinois University last May, Richard Hayes will sign a national letter of intent today to play Division I college football.

Only the Lakes senior won't be signing with NIU.

Hayes, a 6-foot-3, 285 pound offensive lineman, will be making a written commitment to Central Michigan University, which is a Mid-American Conference rival of Northern Illinois.

"What I want people to know is that it just wasn't me going back on my word," Hayes said. "It was both sides."

After the holidays, Hayes made his official visit to Northern to meet new head coach Jerry Kill and his staff. Hayes had been recruited by former head coach Joe Novak, assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Mike Sabock and offensive line coach Harold Etheridge.

Neither Sabock nor Etheridge was retained by Kill, who brought in eight of his former assistants at Southern Illinois.

"I wanted to meet with the (new) coaches and see how they were, but I liked the old coaches -- Coach Sabock, Coach Novak, Coach Etheridge -- better," Hayes said. "They were the biggest reason why I committed there."

During his visit with Kill and his staff, Hayes learned that they weren't necessarily eager to offer him a scholarship.

"They said they would like me to walk on, because they wanted to see where I am," Hayes said. "Or, they wanted me to go to a junior college the first year."

That made Hayes' decision easy. He decided to reopen his recruiting process again.

He talked to his high school head coach, Luke Mertens, who called college coaches who had previously expressed interest in Hayes, who earned all-conference and Daily Herald all-area honors his senior season for the Eagles.

Hayes said he got calls from Central Michigan, Illinois State, Western Michigan and Eastern Illinois.

He visited Illinois State last Thursday and had a positive experience.

"That whole week I thought I was going to commit to them," Hayes said.

The next day, Hayes visited Central Michigan, which is located in Mt. Pleasant, where he spent two days. Former Chicago Bears assistant Mike Bajakian recruited Hayes.

Head coach Butch Jones' Chippewas went 8-5 during the 2007 regular season and earned a berth in the Motor City Bowl.

"I really liked the campus, the coaches, the players -- pretty much everything there," Hayes said. "I felt like I didn't want to come home."

Carmel signings: Five players off coach Andy Bitto's 2007 Class 7A state semifinalist team are expected to sign letters of intent today.

Those players are: offensive lineman Alaric Smith (University of Penn), defensive back Ryan Williams (Winona State University), fullback Geoffrey Fields (Valparaiso University), defensive lineman Dan Michael (College of DuPage) and defensive back Chris Salvi (University of Dayton).