‘Edgy’ Tim: College football coaches begin high school visits
Football recruiting was on a hiatus over the last several weeks as the focus for college coaches was on reloading and retaining their rosters via the transfer portal.
Those same college coaches already began visiting high schools last week. Expect even more college coaches, armed with scholarship offers, to be roaming the high school halls starting on Tuesday.
Bowen adding offers
IC Catholic Prep sophomore athlete Grant Bowen (6-foot-4, 205 pounds) has added multiple new Power 4 offers as more college coaches begin to make in-school visits.
“I added new offers from both Tennessee and Oklahoma,” Bowen said. “I’m in the middle of my basketball season for my school. I'm also fitting in lifting along with speed training when I can during basketball season.”
Bowen recapped his latest football recruiting news.
“Both the coaches from Tennessee and Oklahoma made in-school visits early last week and spoke with my dad (current ICCP assistant coach and former Iowa and NFL safety Matt Bowen),” he said. “The coaches talked to my dad and told him they both have an offer for me, which is exciting. Oklahoma is recruiting me as a linebacker and Tennessee likes me more on offense. Both schools want me to come out and visit them sometime this spring. We also had the coaches from Kansas State, Wisconsin and also Georgia in school and they also offered me a scholarship. I don’t have any visits lined up just yet. I’m looking at getting out to Iowa again for a spring visit along with Oklahoma and Michigan State. I really want to find a way to get out to see as many schools as I can this spring and summer.”
Wallace’s recruiting stock rising
Glenbard West junior offensive tackle Josiah Wallace (6-8, 300 pounds) has seen his recruiting stock continue to climb.
“I’ve been just lifting and training on my own and we will start our team lifting next week,” Wallace said. “My focus this winter is all on football and just getting better every day.”
Wallace updated his recruiting, which includes adding scholarship offers.
“I have offers now from Toledo, Western Michigan, Howard, NIU, San Diego State, UMass along with Lindenwood (FCS),” he said. “We had one of the coaches from North Dakota in school earlier this week. I have also been in contact with the coaches from Cincinnati, Central Michigan and Minnesota on and off this winter.
“I went to game day visits this past season to Purdue and NIU and both of those visits went well. I'm planning to get out this spring and see some of the schools who have offered me a scholarship. I had a good amount of game day invites. I’m hoping to make some Junior Day visits sometime this spring for sure.”
Schueneman a name to watch
Neuqua Valley junior offensive tackle Max Schueneman (6-5, 300 pounds) is a big, strong and physical name to watch in the Class of 2027.
“We are back in school and back to team lifts this week after the holiday break” Schueneman said. “Besides lifting with the team I’m also working on my own at OL Mafia along with Acceleration in Naperville this winter.”
Schueneman recapped his latest football recruiting news.
“I’ve been getting follows and I've been in contact with the coaches from Illinois, Wisconsin, Toledo, Western Michigan, Tennessee, Wyoming plus South Dakota, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Purdue,” he said. “I had game day invites from several of those same schools during the season. I ended up making game day visits to Western Michigan and Toledo and those visits went really well. I was planning to make a visit to Illinois when they played Northwestern but the weather was just too rough and we didn’t make the trip. I’m hoping to get back to Illinois sometime this winter or spring for a visit.”
Rayford building on junior season
Glenbard West junior quarterback A.J. Rayford (6-2, 180 pounds) had a very solid 2025 season for the Hilltoppers and earned a sport on the all-West Suburban Silver Conference team.
“My offseason has been going pretty well,” Rayford said. “I’ve been lifting and working out on my own and we also started team lifts. I’m also training with QBWon with Byron Dawkins along with doing speed training with Acceleration in Naperville.”
Rayford filled us in on his latest football recruiting news.
“Last week we had in-school coaches from Brown, Lehigh, North Dakota State and also Dartmouth,” he said. “We are also expecting more coaches to be in school again this coming week. Last season I was able to go to game day visits to Miami of Ohio, Toledo, Eastern Michigan and also NIU. All of those game day visits went well. Toledo was really fun and I was impressed with the campus. Miami of Ohio also has a great campus and I enjoyed just getting to see the games and know the coaches better at all of the schools.”