Pilcher and family bleed Illini orange and blue

Some want college football's letter-of-intent process to be modernized and accelerated - to account for recruits' increasing willingness to commit long before the current February signing period.

Proponents of this plan might want to use Illinois redshirt junior defensive end Doug Pilcher as Extreme Exhibit A for a new way.

Not too long ago his mother, Debbie, was rummaging through their Burr Ridge home when she found a Christmas letter Doug wrote to her and her husband, Jim.

Debbie recalls Doug sitting down at the computer and typing out this opus when he was in either second or third grade:

If I could give any gift to my mom and dad, it would be love and to go to the University of Illinois for college.

I would give love because there (they're) my parents and I love them.

I would give the gift of me going to college at University of Illinois because my parents both went there and I want to go there, too.

That's what I would give my parents!

By Doug Pilcher

"And next to his name there were little computer pictures of stockings and presents," Debbie said.

What, no images of Chief Illiniwek?

Before Ron Zook reads this and charges out to make a home visit to the most-coordinated second-grader he can find, this letter merely emphasizes how long Pilcher's family has bled orange and blue.

"My dad (Jim) will buy anything Illini," Doug said.

Debbie, who grew up in Peoria, and Jim, who hails from Paxton (25 miles north of Champaign), met at infamous campus bar Kam's as undergrads in 1979 and have been together ever since.

By no means are they the only members of their families in Champaign today to watch Illinois play Minnesota in the school's 98th homecoming game.

You could fill at least two of Memorial Stadium's new upscale suites with relatives who share Illini ties.

Debbie's dad, Jim Lauritsen, is an Illinois grad who has owned football season tickets for decades.

"My parents always took us to games as a child," Debbie said.

Debbie's sister, Kristi Cruwys, and her husband, Bryan, are Illinois grads. So are various aunts and uncles and cousins.

Doug's older brother, Steven, has an Illinois diploma, while his sister, Allison, is an Illini freshman.

(She was bummed when mom wouldn't let her borrow an old "Muck Fichigan" T-shirt for last week's trip to Ann Arbor. Doug wanted a shirt, too.)

"We're 5-for-5 as a family," Debbie said. "Not too many people can say that."

Though Doug was a three-sport athlete at Hinsdale Central who could have pursued a future in baseball - his fastball was clocked in the low 90s the summer before his senior year - he wasted little time accepting former coach Ron Turner's scholarship offer in the fall of 2004.

"I had a choice," said Pilcher, who owned offers from Northwestern, Indiana and others. "My parents would have supported me whatever I did, but I knew where I wanted to go."

While Jim celebrated by installing a front doorbell that plays "Illinois Loyalty," Doug developed into an important piece of Illinois' defensive end rotation that includes seniors Derek Walker and Will Davis.

The chiseled 6-foot-5, 265-pounder made his 22nd career start last week at Michigan and delivered 2 tackles for loss.

And nobody will forget being in Pasadena on Jan. 1 when Pilcher dropped USC's J.R. Booty for a 10-yard sack.

"What's nice has been getting to share it all as a family," Debbie said. "We all have Illinois close to our hearts and all of us share the excitement."